July 18, 2007 07-18-07 Med Cruise

[LVTravel]

Thanks ButterbearUK (Milia), minneapolismickey (Angie) & nzdisneymom for the welcome.

To give the names of our group, I'm John, Ruth is the DW and Meghan is the DGD.

We just told Meghan that she was going to Spain for the cruise. She is excited since she likes the Magic. Hope she does well in Spanish next fall in school. One year won't really get it done. My computer program spanish teacher doesn't work too well either.

We asked her younger brother (8) if he wanted to travel somewhere with us (we didn't tell him it was the Disney Cruise) and he said he didn't want to go. Too bad. He's also taken the other three DCL trips with us and was with us for or DL trip last October.


If my math is correct, only 418 days till the cruise!

 

[nzdisneymom]

We went ahead and had DCL add air / hotel / transfers to our reservation - the hotel is Atenea Mar www.bchoteles.com/atenea_in.htm ... we'll have a red-eye flight from Atlanta leaving on Monday and arriving on Tuesday morning in Barcelona which gives us Tuesday to do a little sightseeing and then Wednesday to rest in the morning and then head on over to the ship.

 

[minneapolismickey]

Hi Cindy-

What made you decide to use Disney for all of the travels plans? Did they have better rates? Is it true that you can cancel the plans up to 90 days? Just wondering as we get closer to making those plans ourselves...perhaps we should try to get Disney to do it all.

Thanks,

Angie

 

[justhat]

I just noticed that you have theages of all the people in your list, not just kids. I think my mom would kill me if I told anyone her age!!! I'll be 27 though, not that I think anyone cares-seems to me once you have a kid your age becomes insignificant cause people just want to know the kid's age.

 

[Kodasfriend]

Hi,
My travelagent also added on air for us as a backup plan. You can cancel it up to the final payment date. With gas prices these days I thought it a good idea to have something locked in with the ability to change it if/when I find a better deal. I have heard that European hotels oldy accomodate up to three people. Does anyone know if this is true? are there exceptions to this? With my traveling with three children I'm not sure how I could put some in a room without an adult. I do hope to fly over a number of days early to see a few sites and adjust to the time change.
Kim

 

[ButterbearUK]

It is true, there are large numbers of hotels in Europe that only do double or triple rooms so you have to book two rooms for a family group. This is one of the reasons that we travel to America so much rather than Europe, because you can book one family room instead of two doubles. However, there are some hotels that have larger rooms. You just have to be careful when booking.

I suspect that the hotels that Disney have booked are some of the few that do have family rooms... If you only want one nights accomodation then there are motel style hotels like Ibis that usually do family rooms. There's one very close to the airport, and one on the northern edge of Barcelona. Or there's Accor, the sister group. They tend to be a little out of town, so not great for mega sightseeing, but fine for one night's sleep. If you want more suggestions let me know.

Milia

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi Cindy-

What made you decide to use Disney for all of the travels plans? Did they have better rates? Is it true that you can cancel the plans up to 90 days? Just wondering as we get closer to making those plans ourselves...perhaps we should try to get Disney to do it all.

Thanks,

Angie

Angie - we decided to go with DCL for a couple of reasons.

1. We're booked with air, hotel and transfers so we don't have to worry about finding it on our own -- it's a "safety net" to get us there.

2. Our total price for family of four with airfare, transfers and hotel went up about $5,000... checking airfare for comparable dates for 2006, the best-rates I can come up with from Atlanta is about $1,400 per person - which is about $5,600 each. And to purchase just the transfers is $50/person which is $200. Never mind adding the cost of the hotel for a night (we'd need two rooms because we're a family of four).

3. Takes the hassle out of it for us which means we're less likely to have our pre-vacation fuss that we often have (stress-related with all the details).

4. We can cancel our air / hotel / transfers up to 45 days from travel with no penalty, so if we get brave and decide to do it on our own, we're not out anything.

 

[nzdisneymom]

I just noticed that you have theages of all the people in your list, not just kids. I think my mom would kill me if I told anyone her age!!! I'll be 27 though, not that I think anyone cares-seems to me once you have a kid your age becomes insignificant cause people just want to know the kid's age.

Hey - on my last cruise meet thread, they put ages so that's why I did I'm such a copy-cat (LOL). Tell your mom not to worry - we won't post her age!

As for me, I'm starting early celebrating my birthday - I'll be 42 on Tuesday - and when we sail next summer, I'll be 43.

 

[panamaprincess]

Add us to the list of cruisers...

Cabin 6588: Ann (Mom), Jim (Dad) and Jamie (will be 7-year old "princess")
Cabin 6082: Nan (Nana) and Mert (Boppa)

We'll use FQTV miles for the flights. Plan to fly out on Saturday before the cruise, to wherever we can using the Delta miles. Then either train or EasyJet to BCN...

Like some of the other posters, I started looking at these boards in anticipation of the Med announcements... we booked the first day through our TA. I'll be looking at the boards a bit more when we're closer to the cruise. I'll be interested in what folks are learning about the shore excursions. I'll suggest that everyone do the Uffizi - I was there in the late 80s and it's the best museum I've ever visited!

Happy planning and look forward to meeting some/all of you!

 

[minneapolismickey]

Welcome panamaprincess...great to have you! Sounds like you have some recent Italian travel experience, so I can't wait to hear more of your suggestions for excursions.

Thanks, Cindy for the flight info. I have always done all of my own travel arrangements, but perhaps Disney is the way to go this time with flight and hotel. I'll call and get that info this weekend.

Angie

 

[justhat]

Hey - on my last cruise meet thread, they put ages so that's why I did I'm such a copy-cat (LOL). Tell your mom not to worry - we won't post her age!

As for me, I'm starting early celebrating my birthday - I'll be 42 on Tuesday - and when we sail next summer, I'll be 43.

Happy Birthday!! I'm actually 25 now, so it took me awhile to realize I'll be 27 on the cruise and not 26 (my birthday is in June). Time sorta stopped for me when my daughter was born and my 1st thought when someone asks me my age is 23. Sorta sad that mommyhood has zapped my brain to the point that my own age takes thought!

 

[Kodasfriend]

Thanks Milia,
I guess i need to start looking early rather than later. It's hard to make decisons with so many options. I'm leaning towards flying into London and spending a few days there first. That is the only place I have been to in Europe and I think I would feel most comfortable taking the girls on my own somewhere that I speak the language and know how to get around - found it very easy 10 years ago to get from place to place without a car. In Barcelona I am leaning towards a day of sightseeing and a relaxing day at the beach. Motel style accomodations are fine with me - clean and safe are my only requirements as the cruise provides my luxury part of the trip. Feel free so give any suggestions you have.
Kim

 

[nzdisneymom]

PanamaPrincess - welcome! Your family makes DISBoard Family #10 on this Med. sailing! I hope that when it gets closer to time that we'll be able to come up with a "meet and greet" time so we can put faces together with all the names we'll be seeing during the next 14 months!

We were at Sam's Club on Saturday and I picked up Frommer's Italy 2006. I haven't had a chance to really look through it yet, but I figured with as many stops as we have in Italy, it will keep me entertained and help with the excursion planning.

Speaking of excursions, someone asked about what we're finding. I haven't seen anything yet from Disney about Shore Excursions, but I've been reading on another board on their Europe thread and have been gathering info about the various ports and the recommended private tour guides and how it all works out over there. I was thinking, too, that I want to start reading the threads here on DisBoards for other Med. sailings because I'm sure that the other DISers who are sailing will have lots of info to share!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I was wondering - how many Disney (or other cruiseline) cruises have y'all sailed before?

This will be our second cruise - our first one was with Disney in December. We did the Western Caribbean and enjoyed it so much that DH said cruising is his preferred method of travel for now. Which made it so easy to get him to agree to booking the Med. cruise

 

[minneapolismickey]

Hi all-

Haven't had much to add lately, but am watching what you all have to say with interest. Thanks so much for all of the ideas an insight!

This will be our second cruise and only Disney. Our first cruise was last month in March on the 7 day western. We are active vacationers and are usually hiking or skiing. But I have to say that the extreme relaxation was fabulous. We loved being with the kids but often without them! I think that the kids clubs made our vacation memorable. Don't know if we will cruise often when we are empty-nesters, but for now the Disney cruise is one of our new favorite ways to spend a vacation!

Angie

 

[justhat]

This is our 2nd Disney cruise (well, for me and Madison-for my mom and son it will be their first) and we've been on 4 non-Disney cruises.

 

[Kodasfriend]

Hi Everyone,
The Med cruise will be the 5th cruise for my daughters and I. All have been on Disney. I went on two others a lifetime ago prior to husband and kids. We have done both the Eastern and Western 2 times each. One of the best things for my family about the repeat Disney cruises is how comfortable everyone is. My kids know their way around the ship and they know what to expect on the trip. They have things as simple as the ice cream up on deck 9 that they look forward to each trip. At this point no one feels pressured to do it all and we can pick and choose what we want to do. Of course on the Med cruise that may change as we have never been to any of these countries. I also figure if my two younger ones get tired with all the traveling they can stay in the kids club one day instead of heading on shore. I picked up a travel book on Spain at Costco and will post any good info I get out of it. I am really enjoying reading all the posts and the information that is shared.
Kim

 

[ButterbearUK]

Well, we are all first timers when it comes to cruising! (Though assuming we enjoy it we might try the Caribbean ones after )

We have been to a few of the cruise ports before though...

Milia

 

[nzdisneymom]

I started looking through the Italy travel book ... wow ... there is so much I want to see while we're there. The kids were looking at some of the pictures and my younger one says he wants to see the Leaning Tower of Pizza after seeing a picture of the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I'd like to see it, too - so we're likely to pick that over going into Florence -- although I really hate having to make a choice.

I know when we go to Naples, we plan to take an excursion down to Pompeii.

 

[scottishwee35]

Hello Everybody

We booked it today and we are going July 18th Med. cruise as it is our second Disney Cruise.

We are from Scotland, have two kids Keith (9) and Olivia (6) but will be 10 and 7 next year.

We flight from Scotland about 2.5 to 3 hours, not have a long flight to Florida.

We are looking forward to see Europe.

Scottishwee35