July 18, 2007 07-18-07 Med Cruise

[Judah722]

Ok if knew how to use this board better I would send you a private message. However - your comment about the Carnival Dream piques my curiousity. I sailed the Jewel of Seas last fall with my brother - loved the trip New England. But felt the dining experience felt like a huge ship compared to Disney. DW and I have done sailed the NCL Star and found it really disappointing. I found the Jewel to lack an edge stacked against Disney on several points. Hence we choose Celebrity - reveiws seem to put it a level up from RCCL.

With all the bad stuff that has occured on Carnival and the general 'party' reputation we have steared clear of Carnival. So if you need to private message me its fine. But i am really curious as they are much more affordable.

thanks
Ben

We are so excited about Venice. We're doing a DCL excursion to Murano and Burano, and then we're doing a Secret Itinerary tour of Doge's Palace - then just wandering around to see what we can see. It's an overnight stop which I'm seriously stoked about.




Congratulations on the expansion of your family - what a wonderful way to celebrate!


We aren't exclusive to DCL and as the boys are getting older (this will be Nathan's last year to participate in the youth activities), that opens up more opportunities for us. We sailed on the Carnival Dream for Christmas 2011 and loved it so much that we're doing it again this Christmas - same itinerary, same cabin - it goes to Belize, Honduras, Cozumel and Costa Maya.

DH and I are thinking about adding River cruises to our wish list for when the boys are out of the house and we don't feel obligated to take them on vacation with us (LOL).[/QUOTE]

 

[Crissup]

I would love to do the Panama Canal - on my "bucket list" - I need to plan a trip through.

Yes, the Canal was always something that interested me far more than Europe. Carol wanted to do the Med again, and I told here "how many people do you know that have sailed the entire canal from one ocean to another".

We sailed ... Carnival ... we're doing it again

Better bring extra portapotties, just in case. ;-)

DH and I are thinking about adding River cruises to our wish list for when the boys are out of the house and we don't feel obligated to take them on vacation with us (LOL).

Simon & Cleo just did one on the Mississippi. I think you can find a link to their blog over on their Veness Travel Media site.

I used to be a boater and I loved river boating, going from one river town to the next. Nothing more relaxing to me.

Sent via my iThingy

 

[scottishwee35]

Wishing you were on our panama cruise next month. We had a lot of fun.

Sent via my iThingy

hi it is a great experience about Panama Cruise as I would love to do it again but Ian is not keen about it ...

Also we love to go to Alaska, just two of us, when kids get older

Scottishwee35

 

[nzdisneymom]

Ok if knew how to use this board better I would send you a private message. However - your comment about the Carnival Dream piques my curiousity. I sailed the Jewel of Seas last fall with my brother - loved the trip New England. But felt the dining experience felt like a huge ship compared to Disney. DW and I have done sailed the NCL Star and found it really disappointing. I found the Jewel to lack an edge stacked against Disney on several points. Hence we choose Celebrity - reveiws seem to put it a level up from RCCL.

With all the bad stuff that has occured on Carnival and the general 'party' reputation we have steared clear of Carnival. So if you need to private message me its fine. But i am really curious as they are much more affordable.

I sailed on an older Carnival ship back in 2006 and said I would NEVER take my family on an older Carnival ship. Lucky for us, the Carnival Dream is a newer ship (LOL). It's laid out better and seemed to be much more family-oriented (although not exclusively). You know how DCL is mostly family-oriented yet they have a pretty good amount of adult-focused stuff? Carnival is the opposite - they have enough family stuff to keep families entertained and engaged and enjoy the cruise, but there is a lot for adults only. We especially enjoyed the comedy club they have and they do family shows which we went to and adult shows which DH and I went to.

I say that to say that if Carnival has an itinerary that appeals to you and a price that is affordable and the ship is one of their newer ships, then I'd consider it. We had such a good experience that we booked again for Christmas this year - and it's about 1/2 the price of a DCL cruise that same week. We do want to experience the Disney Fantasy but until we can go at an off-peak week or until they hit an itinerary that is a "must do" for us, we'll have to wait. We did a lot of reading on Cruise Critic just after booking and still within our cancellation window and found enough balanced reviews to feel comfortable about going the first time - and were happy with it. We like a lot of things that Carnival offers that Disney doesn't - like the My Time Dining and we found the food to be better plus more dining options for dinner and lunch. But the kids still say Disney wins the Youth Programs hands down - so as long as they can participate, that's a major factor for us. They hated the Royal Caribbean one when they were 12 and 13 but were ok with the Carnival one at 13 and 14. This summer they are 17 and nearly 16 so it will likely be their last trip through DCL's Youth Programs.

Yes, the Canal was always something that interested me far more than Europe. Carol wanted to do the Med again, and I told here "how many people do you know that have sailed the entire canal from one ocean to another".

Simon & Cleo just did one on the Mississippi. I think you can find a link to their blog over on their Veness Travel Media site.

We saw some River Cruise boats in St. Petersburg - did you notice them?
And I was thinking if we did the Panama Canal going from East to West, we would have to spend some extra days in California - or maybe fly to Hawaii to go to Aulani - hhhmmmmm.... I need to get our TA on it Thanks for the info about Simon and Cleo - I'll take a look.

We are blogging our Med cruises this summer - link in my sig line (or here - medcruise2013.blogspot.com). I know it's early

 

[ButterbearUK]

Hi Cindy, and everyone else!

We are planning to go to the Greek Islands on the Magic in 2014 - booked on opening day...

Let us know how the Venice sailings are this year!

 

[scottishwee35]

Hi Cindy, and everyone else!

We are planning to go to the Greek Islands on the Magic in 2014 - booked on opening day...

Let us know how the Venice sailings are this year!

Hi Butterbear

We are sailing out of Venice this July and our friend told us that it is so beautiful and amazing

We are looking forward to ...

Scottishwee35

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Hi everyone! Can't believe it has been that many years since we took our first cruise we still talk about it. We are going back this summer doing one of the Venice cruises can't wait and then next year we are planning on doing the transatlantic from Barcelona to San Juan.
Melissa

 

[scottishwee35]

Hi everyone! Can't believe it has been that many years since we took our first cruise we still talk about it. We are going back this summer doing one of the Venice cruises can't wait and then next year we are planning on doing the transatlantic from Barcelona to San Juan.
Melissa

Melissa

We are going to transatlantic too

Scottishwee35

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi everyone! Can't believe it has been that many years since we took our first cruise we still talk about it. We are going back this summer doing one of the Venice cruises can't wait and then next year we are planning on doing the transatlantic from Barcelona to San Juan.
Melissa

Melissa - how fun - we were wondering if you all would be cruising this summer but as you aren't on the Meet thread for June 27th that goes to Venice, and you're transatlanticing from BCN to San Juan, I'm assuming you're on the other Venice itinerary - lucky goose. Tell your mom and brother hey from us.

 

[DLRPfan.be]

Melissa

We are going to transatlantic too

Scottishwee35

Hé, hé, looks like there will be a small reunion onboard in 2014 !