July 18, 2007 07-18-07 Med Cruise

[scottishwee35]

Hi Lissa

We are staying in Barcelona for 3 nights before Disney Cruise.

We are staying at apartment.

Scottishwee35

 

[nzdisneymom]

We'll be at the Hotel Atenea Mar on the night before. We had to get two rooms because there are four of us, but we're doing it through DCL - just easier for us and on us.

 

[todds34]

We are staying 3 nights before the cruise and are also staying at the Grand Marina Hotel. We booked directly with the hotel as this was less expensive but I do believe there is a DCL representative at this hotel as it is one of the choices you can make if booking via DCL.

Todds34

 

[DisTeach]

Kristen - who is your mom?

CarolAnnK

 

[Crissup]

CarolAnnK

...Which changed to CarolAnnC three years ago next week.

 

[DLRPfan.be]

Hi Everyone,
Just wondering if anyone is spending the night before the cruise in Barcelona. If you are where are you going to be staying. We were not able to book a room through Disney but did book rooms at one of their hotels the Grand Marina.
Lissa

We will be staying 2 nights before the cruise at "Hotel Barcelona Catedral".

 

[scottishwee35]

Don't know if this will work or if I am doing this right, This is from dcl thread

Warning: Some Med Excursions Filling Up Very Early

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just a warning to other cruisers going to the Mediterranean this summer--some of the shore excursions are filling up extremely quickly. Personally, I was unable to book my preferred excursions in La Spezia (Florence/Pisa) and Villefranche (Nice/Monaco) exactly 75 days prior to departure. (Yes, it is my first Disney Cruise). I've had other data points given to me that indicate people have had problems booking even at 105 days out.

So far, Disney has not provided anyone with a very satisfactory backup plan. There are multiple problems:
Once your booking window arrives,if you book your second choice excursion that runs at the same time (frequent for these all-day exucrsions in Europe), you can no longer check availability of your first choice excursion. If you later want to check via the web site, you have to *cancel* your second choice excursion to even see if there is availability of your first choice, risking the loss of your second choice excursion just to check!
There is no such concept of a waiting list for these excursions.
Disney is unable to say (yet--still waiting on a response) whether there will be additional capacity added to address these high-demand excursions.
You *might* be able to check via the telephone every day to see if availability has opened up.
You'll want to be sure to have a second and maybe even a third-choice in mind for the major ports. If you have your heart set on a particular destination you might want to book a private tour instead.

Bottom line: I think Disney misestimated the audience for these cruises--unlike the Caribbean, people are going on these cruises are much for the ports as the cruise experience itself.



Scottishwee35

 

[nzdisneymom]

We can book April 19th so I have everything ready to go. Sounds like I need to start by booking the day / excursion we want the most so that there will be spots Although I am assuming that DCL will not have all of it's spots available for online booking - they'll hold some back for on-board booking for those who don't have internet access.

 

[todds34]

Hi All

This excursion thing is starting to get a little worrying . Who wants to spend all this money on the cruise and then not get the excursions you want. DCL should realise that the shore excursions are a much bigger part of your holiday on this type of cruise than the Caribbean.

It sounds like we will really need to get planning and have not only or 1st choice of excursion but also a back up choice if we are to get any at all. I have picked all the excursions I want but I am going to go back to the DCL site now and pick 2nd choices just in case.

I hope we are all lucky and I will keep my fingers crossed for everyone.

Another day closer to the 'MAGIC'

Todds34

 

[nzdisneymom]

One of the reasons we chose mid-July for our cruise was to give DCL time to get the "kinks" worked out of their Med. itinerary. I suspect that by the time we sail, they'll have that all figured out about excursions demand, etc. At least I hope so. They are learning a lot about demand from those who are sailing in June.... won't be long now til we get to read some trip reports!

 

[todds34]

Dear NZDinsneymon

I didn't think of that and I hope you are right.

It will be great to read some of the trip reports before we sail, I think this will add to the excitement. Hopefully it will make the time till we sail pass a little more quickly and we will be cruising the Med before we know it.

Todds34

 

[tinkerbell_29]

When we booked our cruise the person on the phone said we could start booking excursions on April 19th but I was just looking at some of our cruise booklets and it said May 4th. So which one is it,and at what time can you start booking them?
Lissa

 

[scottishwee35]

When we booked our cruise the person on the phone said we could start booking excursions on April 19th but I was just looking at some of our cruise booklets and it said May 4th. So which one is it,and at what time can you start booking them?
Lissa

Hi Lissa

Are you first time with Disney Cruise, if so, mean your dates will be 4th May - 75 days? Your time will be 12.01 am?

If repeat like Castaway members with Disney Cruise mean can book on 19th April.

Cat 1 -3 can book 105 days ( i think today 4th)

Scottishwee35

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Thanks Scottishwee35,
We are first times so May 4th it is. Hopefully we will still be able to get the excursions we want.

Lissa

3 day until WDW and birthday celebrating

 

[scottishwee35]

Thanks Scottishwee35,
We are first times so May 4th it is. Hopefully we will still be able to get the excursions we want.

Lissa

3 day until WDW and birthday celebrating

Hi Lissa

Looking forward to meet you.

I do hope so and hope everybody get what they want at excursions, seem not good to read another forum as most people cannot get it. Not good

I send everybody and hope you and other get excursions well.

Keep finger cross.

Scottishwee35

 

[justhat]

We booked this morning, at 3am , and got everything we wanted. I did the shore excursions first in the order of preference, then Palo, then Flounder's and any remaining shore excursions. Everything worked out fine. The only problem I had was that when I booked the Chocolate Museum for embarkation day it would only let me book my mom on the excursion, not me or my kids. There isn't an age restriction or anything, but even if there were I would hope I would be older than it! It wasn't a must do at all, just something I think my daughter would enjoy, so I'm going to call DCL today to check and see what the problem was. If for some reason it's full (which I doubt) then that's fine, but it's weird cause my mom is the 2nd adult on the reservation, so you'd think they would have assigned me to the excursion instead.

Anyway, I realize that a lot fewer people can book today than at 90 and 75 days, but maybe it's a good sign that everyone else on the thread will get what they want too!

 

[scottishwee35]

We booked this morning, at 3am , and got everything we wanted. I did the shore excursions first in the order of preference, then Palo, then Flounder's and any remaining shore excursions. Everything worked out fine. The only problem I had was that when I booked the Chocolate Museum for embarkation day it would only let me book my mom on the excursion, not me or my kids. There isn't an age restriction or anything, but even if there were I would hope I would be older than it! It wasn't a must do at all, just something I think my daughter would enjoy, so I'm going to call DCL today to check and see what the problem was. If for some reason it's full (which I doubt) then that's fine, but it's weird cause my mom is the 2nd adult on the reservation, so you'd think they would have assigned me to the excursion instead.

Anyway, I realize that a lot fewer people can book today than at 90 and 75 days, but maybe it's a good sign that everyone else on the thread will get what they want too!

Hi

I am pleased to hear that you managed to book it and you mentioned about Palo, I wonder if any brunch palo there?

Oh dear about chocolate museum!

Scottishwee35

 

[justhat]

We did Palo dinner and brunch, but not the tea. Even if we wanted to book the tea, Flounder's is not open then so we couldn't.

 

[scottishwee35]

Justhat

Okay, thank for let me know.

Cheer

another 15 days to go!!!

Scottishwee35

 

[tinkerbell_29]

Hi Everybody,

Looking forward to meeting all of ya'll soon.

I have a question, how formal is formal night? Are we talking long dress and white gloves or what? The other nights would capris and a nice top be fine or do you still need to wear a dress? And what about guys? My brother is not going to be happy if he has to wear a suit every night. We are from the south. Dreesing up to us is a nice pair of pants i.e. kahikis and a top even for church. DCL could be a little more helpful in this area instead of saying dress is cruise casual.

Lissa

2 days until WDW and birhtday celebration