From 12 night in 2020 to 8 night in 2022 - April 24, 2022 Update

[Ladybugx87]

A few more updates because I am taking advantage of having a day off of work!!

First my amazing mom who is coming with us on this trip is on her way home from Egypt right now! My dad came and hung out with us while my mom traveled with her cousin. Her final 'bucket list' vacation item is Greece, which we will hit this year.

A little more history about my family - my mom is definitely where I get my wanderlust from - my dad never would have traveled to Europe....but then I got an expat work assignment and he couldn't go two years without seeing my DD1(DD2 didnt come till we moved back) SO he came to Europe twice while we lived there and also enjoyed the Disney Alaska Cruise...plus he really wants to go to Sicily which we didnt make it to in his two visits to Europe and this trip will check that off. Now back to my pre-trip report

1- We are PAID IN FULL!!! WOOHOO!!! We booked via Costco and the PIF date was tomorrow but we had a few final Gift Cards purchased via Target Red Card to call in so I just paid it all off now.

2- I mentioned that I found a Tours by Local tour for Cannes....well I decided to look at Naples and found a great 4 hour Naples tour that looks perfect for my family - we originally were going to take a day off touring today but this seems like a great option for us.

3- I need to call and finalize our trip insurance (deposit paid, they told me to call back once PIF)

4- I think my planning is going to take a break for a few weeks (I have business travel, spring after school activities kick off, etc) but I will be back after check in (March 18th!) to update what we get - the main thing I want is early PAT, the 3 DCL excursion I have chosen (Mykonos, Messina, Olbia), and Palo. The girls want braids instead of BBB (saving me some money!) and husband says he doesn't need any alcohol tastings.

Thanks for following along!

 

[tidefan]

A few more updates because I am taking advantage of having a day off of work!!

First my amazing mom who is coming with us on this trip is on her way home from Egypt right now! My dad came and hung out with us while my mom traveled with her cousin. Her final 'bucket list' vacation item is Greece, which we will hit this year.

A little more history about my family - my mom is definitely where I get my wanderlust from - my dad never would have traveled to Europe....but then I got an expat work assignment and he couldn't go two years without seeing my DD1(DD2 didnt come till we moved back) SO he came to Europe twice while we lived there and also enjoyed the Disney Alaska Cruise...plus he really wants to go to Sicily which we didnt make it to in his two visits to Europe and this trip will check that off. Now back to my pre-trip report

1- We are PAID IN FULL!!! WOOHOO!!! We booked via Costco and the PIF date was tomorrow but we had a few final Gift Cards purchased via Target Red Card to call in so I just paid it all off now.

2- I mentioned that I found a Tours by Local tour for Cannes....well I decided to look at Naples and found a great 4 hour Naples tour that looks perfect for my family - we originally were going to take a day off touring today but this seems like a great option for us.

3- I need to call and finalize our trip insurance (deposit paid, they told me to call back once PIF)

4- I think my planning is going to take a break for a few weeks (I have business travel, spring after school activities kick off, etc) but I will be back after check in (March 18th!) to update what we get - the main thing I want is early PAT, the 3 DCL excursion I have chosen (Mykonos, Messina, Olbia), and Palo. The girls want braids instead of BBB (saving me some money!) and husband says he doesn't need any alcohol tastings.

Thanks for following along!

Are you on the 7/1/2020 cruise? Just asking because we show a 03/03/2020 Final Payment date...

 

[Ladybugx87]

Are you on the 7/1/2020 cruise? Just asking because we show a 03/03/2020 Final Payment date...

Yes...but we booked via Costco. Their PIF date is earlier than Disney. Disney date is 3-3

 

[Ladybugx87]

Room assignments!

we received our GTY assignments today - a bit earlier than I expected but likely due to lots of cancellations from uncertainty.

we had a 5b and got 6570- I am very pleased! Great location and we have always been starboard so glad to keep that.

my parents are 11c (I think) and got 2021. That said, I can see that 6571 (across hall from me) is open. I spent 2 hours on hold with Costco tonight and never got answered so will try again tomorrow. I know there will be a cost to move them but I think it will be worth it.

another note - some concierge rooms opened up. We won’t go for it, but this Coronavirus has a lot of unprecedented things happening.

a few other quick updates
I bought a few things for the cruise off Etsy including American girl doll outfits for my girls. I’m hoping to get into FE soon.

im all ready to check in soon From our spring break trip to nyc.

i welcome any comments on my room assignments. I’m pleased with our first GTY go and hope I can get my parents closer.

 

[Ladybugx87]

Just a quick update that I’ve been able to move my parents to the 6th floor too. Now to see if we actually get to cruise with all the coronavirus closures.....trying to be positive while we are all at home the next few weeks (my girls’ schools are closed for 3 weeks and my company asked us to work from home too....)

last a different Disney update - I got in the wine and dine 2 course challenge so I have that to look forward to in November.

 

[Ladybugx87]

In what might be a pointless effort, I am coming to update my GOLD check in - this is only for my family. My parents are silver so I will come back with their update in a few weeks (assuming we are still on....) - I know we could've split us differently to make both staterooms Gold but we aren't looking for anything super popular on this cruise (and my parents don't do PALO - they want to spend every minute they can with my kiddos) so they are silver.

First, I didnt stay up till midnight - plan was to get up at 5:30am and do it....but I woke at 2am and thought of it so quietly snuck to the kitchen and checked us in before going back to bed.

1) Check in was super easy - our passports were all still saved from last cruise. We got 11am PAT.
2) My husband and I have PALO dinner on Naples night. We are doing a short tour this day and are sailing from Naples to Olbia so hopeful for nice views.
3) I booked Princess and Frozen Gathering for first day at sea.
4) I booked the Character Breakfast for second day at sea the day we plan to celebrate my dad's 77th birthday on ship.
5) We booked the three excursions we wanted - Mykonos, Messina, Olbia.

As we get closer to cruising and I have more confidence ( I have optimistic hopes but not logical confidence right now) that we are sailing, I will come back with our detailed day by day plans.

 

[tidefan]

In what might be a pointless effort, I am coming to update my GOLD check in - this is only for my family. My parents are silver so I will come back with their update in a few weeks (assuming we are still on....) - I know we could've split us differently to make both staterooms Gold but we aren't looking for anything super popular on this cruise (and my parents don't do PALO - they want to spend every minute they can with my kiddos) so they are silver.

First, I didnt stay up till midnight - plan was to get up at 5:30am and do it....but I woke at 2am and thought of it so quietly snuck to the kitchen and checked us in before going back to bed.

1) Check in was super easy - our passports were all still saved from last cruise. We got 11am PAT.
2) My husband and I have PALO dinner on Naples night. We are doing a short tour this day and are sailing from Naples to Olbia so hopeful for nice views.
3) I booked Princess and Frozen Gathering for first day at sea.
4) I booked the Character Breakfast for second day at sea the day we plan to celebrate my dad's 77th birthday on ship.
5) We booked the three excursions we wanted - Mykonos, Messina, Olbia.

As we get closer to cruising and I have more confidence ( I have optimistic hopes but not logical confidence right now) that we are sailing, I will come back with our detailed day by day plans.

I will be shocked if they send the Magic overseas...

 

[Ladybugx87]

I will be shocked if they send the Magic overseas...

I know. I WANT it to but my logical brain says it won’t.

 

[Ladybugx87]

So I have cancelled everything non-DCL that I have booked (except flights). Here is a quick recap of what I’ve been told in case helpful for others. NOTE: I am not cancelling or moving DCL at this point. I’m waiting.

Paris hotel - cancelled and deposit refund already issued

civiatecchia hotel - cancelled. Told refund will process on April 30.

Santorini private tour - cancelled and deposit will be refunded. I was offered a 110% credit for future use to hold deposit but declined. No timing on refund given.

Athens private tour - cancelled. No deposit required.

cinque Terre private tour - cancelled. Will refund deposit.

Tours by locals - took multiple emails to cancel. They really want you to take a credit of 110% toward future travel which I Don’t want to do right now. Told me it will take 8-10 weeks for refund.

Barcelona tour - cancelled. Deposit refund coming.

i don’t know exactly when to to expect the rest but thought I’d share.
Now waiting to see what DCL does and offers to decide what to do. A cruise credit will be a huge amount of $ that I’m not sure we’d spend in 15 months. Aulani is our 2021 plan.

 

[tidefan]

We ran into the same thing when we cancelled our Rome Vatican reservations (with The Roman Guy). They wanted us to reschedule as well, but I have no idea when we'd ever be there again, so we are cancelling that. Our hotel I can cancel by mid-June, so we are good on that. Our air was/is on British Airways and, quite honestly, I hadn't even begun to think about how to move/cancel that...

 

[Ladybugx87]

We ran into the same thing when we cancelled our Rome Vatican reservations (with The Roman Guy). They wanted us to reschedule as well, but I have no idea when we'd ever be there again, so we are cancelling that. Our hotel I can cancel by mid-June, so we are good on that. Our air was/is on British Airways and, quite honestly, I hadn't even begun to think about how to move/cancel that...

I know. I’m waiting on flights right now. I’m hoping the airlines extend waivers or how long you have to use credits etc. it makes me sad but timE to face reality.

 

[Ladybugx87]

So this cruise is officially cancelled but I’ll leave the thread in case any of my planning helps future cruisers. We are planning to take the refund as we don’t have plans to cruise in next 15 months. Our first cruise as gold will have to wait......

 

[tidefan]

So this cruise is officially cancelled but I’ll leave the thread in case any of my planning helps future cruisers. We are planning to take the refund as we don’t have plans to cruise in next 15 months. Our first cruise as gold will have to wait......

We are taking the refund as well...

 

[Ladybugx87]

Rather than start a new pre-trip report, I think I am going to just update this thread - with the release of the 2022 itineraries, we are planning to book the 8-night Sicily/Greece out of Rome on 6/10, likely only for our family of 4. I am ready and waiting to book online at 8am on Gold Day and hoping for a cabin in our favorite area.

We adjusted to the 8 nights for a few reasons (vs the 12 nights we had planned in 2020):
- The timing is a bit better for us (June 10 vs July 6) - generally, the earlier in summer, the better for our family's schedule
- RT for Rome is easier planning and we have been to Barcelona before
- We still want to do Sicily (which we haven't been to, we have been to and loved Dubrovnik)

 

[Ladybugx87]

We are full steam ahead for the June 10 cruise so I figured I would go ahead and pick my pre-cruise trip report back up. It is officially only my family as my parents have decided to opt out of the travel to Europe.

Some of our plans:

Paris: We are going to Paris ahead of heading to Rome- I found great flights and have booked the hotel that we had planned to stay in, in 2020. We have Eiffel Tower tickets booked and a family chocolate/sweets/walking tour booked.

Civiatecchia: We arrive in Rome the evening before embarkation and have private transfer booked to the hotel in Civiatecchia.

On-board plans: We joined the cruise FE, have Palo on our Santorini evening, and have Royal Court Royal Tea on one of the sea days. S will be 12 when we sail and wants to enjoy this activity one final time.

Excursions: Because of some unknowns, I went ahead and booked Disney excursions in each port. I am trying to pace our travel as well and not overdo it. I am pleased with what we booked but only have the codes saved so more on that in a different post.

Disembarkation: Rome In Limo is picking us up and we opted for a day tour to Bracciano and Ceri before flying back to Paris in the evening. We may need to sort out COVID tests as well. We fly back to US the following day.

 

[tidefan]

We are full steam ahead for the June 10 cruise so I figured I would go ahead and pick my pre-cruise trip report back up. It is officially only my family as my parents have decided to opt out of the travel to Europe.

Some of our plans:

Paris: We are going to Paris ahead of heading to Rome- I found great flights and have booked the hotel that we had planned to stay in, in 2020. We have Eiffel Tower tickets booked and a family chocolate/sweets/walking tour booked.

Civiatecchia: We arrive in Rome the evening before embarkation and have private transfer booked to the hotel in Civiatecchia.

On-board plans: We joined the cruise FE, have Palo on our Santorini evening, and have Royal Court Royal Tea on one of the sea days. S will be 12 when we sail and wants to enjoy this activity one final time.

Excursions: Because of some unknowns, I went ahead and booked Disney excursions in each port. I am trying to pace our travel as well and not overdo it. I am pleased with what we booked but only have the codes saved so more on that in a different post.

Disembarkation: Rome In Limo is picking us up and we opted for a day tour to Bracciano and Ceri before flying back to Paris in the evening. We may need to sort out COVID tests as well. We fly back to US the following day.

Glad you guys are finally getting on a cruise! We will be going on the nine night Greek Isles cruise on June 27.

 

[Ladybugx87]

Glad you guys are finally getting on a cruise! We will be going on the nine night Greek Isles cruise on June 27.

I’ll try to post at least highlights between mine and yours.

 

[pthuhges2]

Hoe you have a Blast!

 

[nancipants]

Enjoyed your previous trip report in 2019 and looking forward to the next one! We are considering a 7 or 8 night cruise from Rome in 2024.

 

[Ladybugx87]

Enjoyed your previous trip report in 2019 and looking forward to the next one! We are considering a 7 or 8 night cruise from Rome in 2024.

Thanks! I’ll definitely do a trip report!