Is anyone cruising with me on the August 27th 2011 Meditteranean Cruise? Hellooooo?

[dizmomof2]

We had to cancel our 2 rooms tday. We were going with my parents and my mom just got a really bad medical prognosis. There is no way she could be that far away from home. I hope you have a wonderful time! Please remove us from the fish extender list we were under delauzons and had 2 Cat 10 C rooms.

I am so sorry to here about your mother. You will all be in our thoughts and prayers. I've taken you of the FE list.

 

[TJFrack]

That is very sad about having to hear about your mom's medical diagnosis. I pray that God helps you find the treatment she needs/wants to take.



DizMom2, what is our count up to on FE?

 

[dizmomof2]

We are up to 10 families (12 cabins). I'm thinking that since two cabins only have kids in them that it is really just their parnet cabin that will have the FE at it. We have gone down a bit with people having to leave the cruise but 10 families is still pretty good! I have a spread sheet going with everyone's cabin and names. The basic list is on page 8 of this thread. I do keep it up to date as well, just without all of the personnal information.

We still have space for more cruisers!! Any one else want to join us for so FE fun?

On a completely different topic, I have made the leap to switch careers and I am now training to become a travel agent specializing in cruises! This means, of coarse, the DH and I will have to take a whole lot more cruises to experience all that cruising has to offer. (I think DH is more excited about this then I am!)

Now I just have to pass the exam!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

.


On a completely different topic, I have made the leap to switch careers and I am now training to become a travel agent specializing in cruises! This means, of coarse, the DH and I will have to take a whole lot more cruises to experience all that cruising has to offer. (I think DH is more excited about this then I am!)

Now I just have to pass the exam!

Congrats? I've often wondered how people become TS's? Do you go to a school or do you learn this online? Will you be able to work from home? Sounds exciting!

 

[BWV Dreamin]

4 months to go.

Re thinking my hotel choices, do not want to stay in the same hotel twice, so I booked Hotel Jazz for precruise.

Also re thinking Disneyland Paris, flight has changed and now arrive at 7:00am, know I will not get any sleep. I figure if I made it awake till 8:00
PM I will be doing well, is it worth it going to the park from say 11:00-7:00 in the summer? Add in to the mix through connections I can get a 5 star hotel on the Champs -Élysées for 1/4 the Price of Disneyland Paris. I could spend the afternoon wandering the Streets of Paris then crash in style.

Yeah our flight arrives at 8am!! With no check in until 3 or 4, I'm hoping the pool will not be crowded and we can sleep by the pool!

 

[dizmomof2]

Congrats? I've often wondered how people become TS's? Do you go to a school or do you learn this online? Will you be able to work from home? Sounds exciting!

I have some studying with an instructor and some online. Not everywhere requires you to pass an exam but I happen to live in Ontario where you do. I wil be doing some work from home and some from the agency that I'm working for. It does mean that I will have to check my email while on the cruise but DH always has to check his everyday for work so it really won't be any different for us!

 

[delauzons]

That is very sad about having to hear about your mom's medical diagnosis. I pray that God helps you find the treatment she needs/wants to take.



DizMom2, what is our count up to on FE?

Thanks for the prayers! she can use them! Have a great trip!

 

[delauzons]

!

I am so sorry to here about your mother. You will all be in our thoughts and prayers. I've taken you of the FE list.

thank you ! All prayers are appreciated! Have a great trip! I will be thinking of you guys! You will have an awesome time!

 

[austraveler]

We are up to 10 families (12 cabins). I'm thinking that since two cabins only have kids in them that it is really just their parnet cabin that will have the FE at it. We have gone down a bit with people having to leave the cruise but 10 families is still pretty good! I have a spread sheet going with everyone's cabin and names. The basic list is on page 8 of this thread. I do keep it up to date as well, just without all of the personnal information.

Just to clarify - Is the FE for adults and children or just adults? I would really like to get my gifts sorted and want to get a rough idea of numbers.

 

[mkmommy]

I am addicted to looking at travel pictures. This thread from cruisecritic has some amazing pictures from the Med. Lots of them are Eastern Med so I should stop looking as I think I may need to do an Eastern Med cruise now. ( I got a DCL survey the other day and Eastern Med cruises were listed on the would you cruise DCL on these routes, also Bermuda out of New York and Galveston)


http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1398516

 

[mkmommy]

We are up to 10 families (12 cabins). I'm thinking that since two cabins only have kids in them that it is really just their parnet cabin that will have the FE at it. We have gone down a bit with people having to leave the cruise but 10 families is still pretty good! I have a spread sheet going with everyone's cabin and names. The basic list is on page 8 of this thread. I do keep it up to date as well, just without all of the personnal information.

We still have space for more cruisers!! Any one else want to join us for so FE fun?

On a completely different topic, I have made the leap to switch careers and I am now training to become a travel agent specializing in cruises! This means, of coarse, the DH and I will have to take a whole lot more cruises to experience all that cruising has to offer. (I think DH is more excited about this then I am!)

Now I just have to pass the exam!

That is great, I hope you are successful.

I took a 2 year college program to become a Travel Agent many years ago. Just as I was finishing my work co-op portion, I got a promotion at my part time job, so I jumped at that and at times I wish I did not, but maybe someday I will go back to that.

 

[dizmomof2]

Just to clarify - Is the FE for adults and children or just adults? I would really like to get my gifts sorted and want to get a rough idea of numbers.

The FE is for both adults and cildren. Some people give a family gift and some give gifts to adlts and children. It is really up to you.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been MIA. We had a crazy couple of weeks with my mother in law in the hospital (she is okay now--but she and my father in law had to cancel their plans to cruise with us in the Eastern Med for Easter) and other nuttiness here--and then we went on our Eastern Med cruise on Royal Caribbean (found out this is NOT the cruise line for us--but the ports were awesome).
We got home around 2:00 a.m. this morning/last night--so I am still catching up on things

You never know - empty cabins may mean possibility of upgrades. I would love something special like that to happen after the Sept 3 cancellation experience. I ended up 400 out of pocket because Disney can't differentiate between AUD and USD

I think it is terrible that they did not figure out the exchange rate and reimburse you properly I would not get my hope up about upgrades. It is possible (always) but not all that likely from my experience.

I hope so for you too We were out of pocket because it came in dollars rather than pounds but not by that much.

Again--I am appalled that DCL did not do the exchange rates

Hi All! Sorry i've been MIA. I have a few minutes to catch up on the posts. I think I have alot to go through. Hope I don't have to remove anyone from the shipmates, isn't final payment due soon.? Anyways, just wanted to let you all know that we are still going on the cruise, I've just been working on myself lately. I've lost 20 lbs, and hope to loose a but more.

Okay, i'm off to see if there are any updates for the website...

Congrats on your weight loss

Do you all really think that those whom were shipwrecked from 3rd could get upgraded!
The experience alone of reschedualling all and the fact that then my due date was forwarded by a month caused me also loss and financial obsticles to overcome and I am keeping fingers crossed that my request at bank for final payment goes through smoothly!Bank appointment tomorrow to arrange final payment options.Then onto my agent with my options! At least I have the payment available,now just a question of red tape getting it to them in time!

Again, I would not get my hopes up about an upgrade--sorry. Your payment due dates should have only moved 7 days as it is based on the sail date. That can still be a hassle i know--but hopefully did not end up being too much of one.

Way to go on the weight loss!! I have been working on myself too! Lost 13 lbs!! So I will be looking good in the formal dress =D

Congrats on your lighter weight as well

Week four of planning for the ports and I am up to Naples. We are going to go this one on our own - train to pompei, train to sorrento for lunch and hydrafoil back to the port. We were going to just go to Pompei and then head back to Naples to look at the archeology museum but I read so many bad things about the city that we are going with the Sorrento option. Any tips or advice?

Hmmmmm. We find Naples to be dirty and crowded--but otherwise did fine walking to the train station and going to both Pompeii and the museum area (we will be visiting the museum this trip--we saved it for when my father in law is travelling with us as both he and Marika like to read EVERY sign on a place like that. The rest of us can spend a couple of hours there and we can them abandon the two of them there while we head back to the ship ).

I can't wait until we can start planning things on the website! I think I will try to book Palo on our sea day, but since this is our first DCL cruise, I am not so sure we will be able to get a reservation. It would be so nice tho! DH and I never get a chance to have a date because we don't have any family or a babysitter while here in England!

I think I am going to stay on the ship during the Rome port. I want to give my son a break from that harsh August Italian sun. My MIL and DH will be going to the Colliseum and the Vatican. I was just in Rome last July and then again in November, so I think I may enjoy playing with my son in the pool while there are no crowds! Maybe a massage thrown into the mix as well!

The ship will be pretty empty in Rome too--good plan We will only be gone 2-3 hours that day ourselves; having seen everything we want to see in Rome last May. We are heading to Tarquina. Maybe we will see you at the pool
A sea day will be the hardest to get reservations at Palo. Is there a port day you want to try for as a back-up? Or even the first night on board? If your husband will be back from Rome in time that would be a great day to try for as most people will plan to be off the ship ALL day (it is also a day when it is likely to be something smaller or even a movie as the "show" so you would not have to worry about missing that either).

I have been reading the passporter about all the ship activities. I need to make sure that on some of the port days we get back early enough to enjoy the ship. Hadley as our official med cruise expert (or anyone else that knows) can you please tell me if the activities are on while the ships are in port and if it is difficult to get you children OFF the boat because they want to take part in the on board fun?

Family activities are scaled back considerably on port days--but they still offer things to those taking the day off. Kids' clubs run a pretty full offering on port days as many people leave the kids on board while they head into ports.
As to whether or not your kids will want to leave the ship--well it REALLY depends on the kids. Marika has ALWAYS loved histpory and loves ports and never really likes the programing. Rio would probably rather stay onboard at every portEven Marika gets tired when we do really long port days back to back to back--so we like to pick at least one port mid cruise to take off and either stay on board all day or just wander the immediate port area but not be off the ship more than 3 or o hours. We get to see these areas more than you do so that is easier for us to do. You CAN leave the kids on the programming one day and take an adults only day too if you want (we leave the club our cell numbers just in case and I plan to get back on board WAAAAAAY before needed just in case).

We had to cancel our 2 rooms tday. We were going with my parents and my mom just got a really bad medical prognosis. There is no way she could be that far away from home. I hope you have a wonderful time! Please remove us from the fish extender list we were under delauzons and had 2 Cat 10 C rooms.

I am so sorry I hope things get better for your mother.

I am addicted to looking at travel pictures. This thread from cruisecritic has some amazing pictures from the Med. Lots of them are Eastern Med so I should stop looking as I think I may need to do an Eastern Med cruise now. ( I got a DCL survey the other day and Eastern Med cruises were listed on the would you cruise DCL on these routes, also Bermuda out of New York and Galveston)


http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=1398516

Yeah, those Eastern Med. port were awesome. Kusadasi (Ephesus) is possibly my favourite port day ever.

 

[mkmommy]

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been MIA. We had a crazy couple of weeks with my mother in law in the hospital (she is okay now--but she and my father in law had to cancel their plans to cruise with us in the Eastern Med for Easter) and other nuttiness here--and then we went on our Eastern Med cruise on Royal Caribbean (found out this is NOT the cruise line for us--but the ports were awesome).
We got home around 2:00 a.m. this morning/last night--so I am still catching up on things


.

Sorry that your mother in law was not able to join you for Easter, I am sure your kids were dissapointed but glad that she is better now. Are they going with you in August?

I sailed on RCCL once and the ports were wonderful and the food was great, but something was missing, was it the same for you or did you have major issues?

 

[NHdisneylover]

Sorry that your mother in law was not able to join you for Easter, I am sure your kids were dissapointed but glad that she is better now. Are they going with you in August?

I sailed on RCCL once and the ports were wonderful and the food was great, but something was missing, was it the same for you or did you have major issues?

Nothing major went wrong--basically everything was "adequate" but pretty much everything was JUST adequate (including the food--nothing really good ever and entrées were repeated 2-4 times each so there was minimal variety as well). With a few notable exceptions the staff was very much lacking in enthusiasm and some even in basic courtesy and the recurring theme from many was to constantly gripe to us about how much they hated their jobs.

 

[RoniBoBoni]

Hi All! Last time I checked in I went through all the posts and did a multi quote post and everything - then bam! I lost it ALL. I was so frustrated I closed out of the computer entirely. But Thank You for the Birthday Wishes

Paying off our cruise today and it feels sooo good!!!

Where is everyone staying? We ended up switching our airfare to arrive in Barcelona on the 25th and leaving the 4th! Feels better to not have to rush! Would be nice to stay at a hotel with some other disers!

Congrats on paying off the cruise! We are staying at the Fira Palace both pre and post.

We are paid in full!!

We've been a little unsure if this was all going to work out or if we'd have to cancel as my DH is switching jobs and I'm looking into retraining for a different career, but we made the decision and we are going to be on that ship!!

No I just have to get airfare, hotels, money, you know all the extras.

Congrats on training to be a TA! Hope it works out for you, I would love to have a job like that

Well I have a "Diamond-nique" wedding set I wear for travel.. Shushhh.. don't tell anyone!

That is SUCH a great idea!! I am going to have to look into that as well! (If you don't mind me "borrowing" the idea. DH gave me a pair of Dimondique earrings from QVC and I get lots of compliments on them.

We had to cancel our 2 rooms tday. We were going with my parents and my mom just got a really bad medical prognosis. There is no way she could be that far away from home. I hope you have a wonderful time! Please remove us from the fish extender list we were under delauzons and had 2 Cat 10 C rooms.

Bummer! I am so sorry that your mom had a bad medical prognosis. I hope all is well.

Hi everyone. Sorry I have been MIA. We had a crazy couple of weeks with my mother in law in the hospital (she is okay now--but she and my father in law had to cancel their plans to cruise with us in the Eastern Med for Easter) and other nuttiness here--and then we went on our Eastern Med cruise on Royal Caribbean (found out this is NOT the cruise line for us--but the ports were awesome).
We got home around 2:00 a.m. this morning/last night--so I am still catching up on things

Sorry to hear about your mom in law. Glad to hear she is okay now.


Has anyone in the US bought any euros with the great exchange rate? If so, how did you go about it? I want to order from Wells Fargo, but thier fees are high, and I don't get the same rate that I find on the internet. I found that American Express has locations that do it, but none are located in our state. I don't know if I should get the credit card with no exchange fees or buy euros now, which would be better? It's kind of tough cause we can't predict what the Euro will be when we actually travel.

Well, I am still on hiatus - still focusing on myself with a total of 26 lbs lost. I am more motivated than ever. Although it is a downer that you work hard to loose your weight and people start talking and wondering why it is that you are loosing the weight, or how. So I will need this vacation even more than ever when we finally go

 

[BWV Dreamin]

Hi Roni! We are taking both euros and the Capital One credit card. Yes, look into the Diamonique wedding sets! I am pm'ing you about purchasing tickets. It's May already!!!

Hi All! Last time I checked in I went through all the posts and did a multi quote post and everything - then bam! I lost it ALL. I was so frustrated I closed out of the computer entirely. But Thank You for the Birthday Wishes



Congrats on paying off the cruise! We are staying at the Fira Palace both pre and post.



Congrats on training to be a TA! Hope it works out for you, I would love to have a job like that



That is SUCH a great idea!! I am going to have to look into that as well! (If you don't mind me "borrowing" the idea. DH gave me a pair of Dimondique earrings from QVC and I get lots of compliments on them.



Bummer! I am so sorry that your mom had a bad medical prognosis. I hope all is well.



Sorry to hear about your mom in law. Glad to hear she is okay now.


Has anyone in the US bought any euros with the great exchange rate? If so, how did you go about it? I want to order from Wells Fargo, but thier fees are high, and I don't get the same rate that I find on the internet. I found that American Express has locations that do it, but none are located in our state. I don't know if I should get the credit card with no exchange fees or buy euros now, which would be better? It's kind of tough cause we can't predict what the Euro will be when we actually travel.

Well, I am still on hiatus - still focusing on myself with a total of 26 lbs lost. I am more motivated than ever. Although it is a downer that you work hard to loose your weight and people start talking and wondering why it is that you are loosing the weight, or how. So I will need this vacation even more than ever when we finally go

 

[TJFrack]

Hi All! Last time I checked in I went through all the posts and did a multi quote post and everything - then bam! I lost it ALL. I was so frustrated I closed out of the computer entirely. But Thank You for the Birthday Wishes



Congrats on paying off the cruise! We are staying at the Fira Palace both pre and post.



Congrats on training to be a TA! Hope it works out for you, I would love to have a job like that



That is SUCH a great idea!! I am going to have to look into that as well! (If you don't mind me "borrowing" the idea. DH gave me a pair of Dimondique earrings from QVC and I get lots of compliments on them.



Bummer! I am so sorry that your mom had a bad medical prognosis. I hope all is well.



Sorry to hear about your mom in law. Glad to hear she is okay now.


Has anyone in the US bought any euros with the great exchange rate? If so, how did you go about it? I want to order from Wells Fargo, but thier fees are high, and I don't get the same rate that I find on the internet. I found that American Express has locations that do it, but none are located in our state. I don't know if I should get the credit card with no exchange fees or buy euros now, which would be better? It's kind of tough cause we can't predict what the Euro will be when we actually travel.

Well, I am still on hiatus - still focusing on myself with a total of 26 lbs lost. I am more motivated than ever. Although it is a downer that you work hard to loose your weight and people start talking and wondering why it is that you are loosing the weight, or how. So I will need this vacation even more than ever when we finally go

I am going to purchase through bank of america and their website says.....

Is there a fee for ordering foreign currency or travelers cheques online?

There is no fee for ordering foreign currency online, but the bank receives compensation from the purchase and sale of foreign currency banknotes in the form of a spread between the "buy" price and the "sell" price of the foreign currency. In addition there is a 2% service charge on all American Express® Travelers Cheques. Additionally, there is a delivery fee of $7.50 on all orders that are less than $1,000. On orders for more than $1,000 the delivery fee is waived.

Because we are doing private excursions we have to pay in cash or traveler's checks at the end. I would rather have the money in Euros which I know the fixed rate for the tour rather than try to convert and overpay or something.

 

[mkmommy]

Anyone getting excited besides me that the Magic will be heading to Europe soon?

I can't wait to read some new trip reports.

 

[austraveler]

Anyone getting excited besides me that the Magic will be heading to Europe soon?

I can't wait to read some new trip reports.

I know. I logged into the cruise meet sticky the other day to see when the first cruise was. I'm sure we will get some great information.

By the way, did we end up settling on Hadley's suggestion of a casual meet up at Dominos in Barcelona?