July 7, 2018 — 10-Night Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona. I had to cancel this cruise.

[bobbiwoz]

We cancelled this because we thought it was too port intensive. We decided to stay in Rome for 3 nights and then do 2 B2B cruises.

Some ports will be duplicated, but we think it will be more our touring style.

I hope this cruise is wonderful for all of you who are on it!!!

 

[CScott095]

I'm so excited that this thread is now open! We are also traveling on our first European cruise and this will be our 6th DCL!

 

[bobbiwoz]

I'm so excited that this thread is now open! We are also traveling on our first European cruise and this will be our 6th DCL!

We are in the process of moving from Ohio to Cape May NJ. We expect the closing on the Ohio house to be on Friday. Where do you live?

 

[CScott095]

We are in Colorado. Moving is so exciting and so much work! Good luck.

We are in the process of moving from Ohio to Cape May NJ. We expect the closing on the Ohio house to be on Friday. Where do you live?

We

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

The wife and I are also booked on this cruise. It will be our 2nd Disney Cruise and our 1st time to Europe.

 

[bobbiwoz]

The wife and I are also booked on this cruise. It will be our 2nd Disney Cruise and our 1st time to Europe.

This is a very Port intensive cruise. Which Port are we each most looking forward to visiting.

Tom is especially interested in Rome. I have to give it some more thoughts.

We have been to Barcelona and did some touring around that area. We did book 2 nights pre cruise with Disney.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We are booked on this cruise. It will be our 2nd European DCL cruise. Our DD is graduating high school and DH and I are celebrating our 25th Anniversary.

DD wants to see it all, but is most excited about Pompeii, Rome and Pisa.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We are booked on this cruise. It will be our 2nd European DCL cruise. Our DD is graduating high school and DH and I are celebrating our 25th Anniversary.

DD wants to see it all, but is most excited about Pompeii, Rome and Pisa.

And congratulations !

June 1, 1968 is Tom's and mine 50th wedding anniversary. We will be celebrating for a whole year if we can!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

And congratulations !

June 1, 1968 is Tom's and mine 50th wedding anniversary. We will be celebrating for a whole year if we can!

WOW! Thanks! and Congrats to you as well!

 

[bobbiwoz]

WOW! Thanks! and Congrats to you as well!

Thank you!

 

[lindaq6025]

We are booked on this cruise as well. My daughter, her husband, and our 2 grandchildren will be on the cruise as well. We have been to most of these ports on a previous cruise. My DD and her DH have visited a few of these cities on a vacation. My grandchildren, ages 11 & 13 by then, have never been to Europe. It will be our 5th cruise (our 3rd DCL). It will be my DD’s family’s 4th DCL. Since we have done most of these ports, I am the excursion planner. We celebrated our 50th anniversary last Saturday, but are very active.

 

[lindaq6025]

We are on this cruise also. Our DD and her DH and our grandchildren, ages 13 & 11 by then, are on the cruise as well. We have been to most of these ports on a previous cruise. Our DD and her DH have visited a few of these cities on a vacation. It will all be new to our grandchildren. Since we are experienced with most of these ports, I am in charge of port excursions and maximizing our time.

 

[bobbiwoz]

We are on this cruise also. Our DD and her DH and our grandchildren, ages 13 & 11 by then, are on the cruise as well. We have been to most of these ports on a previous cruise. Our DD and her DH have visited a few of these cities on a vacation. It will all be new to our grandchildren. Since we are experienced with most of these ports, I am in charge of port excursions and maximizing our time.

I would be interested in knowing your opinion about some of the ports you are familiar with.

 

[lindaq6025]

I would be interested in knowing your opinion about some of the ports you are familiar with.

Thanks for the welcome. The first thing I noticed about our itinerary is that we are spending a much shorter time in Rome than any other DCL (only 9 hours total vs 12 hours) I don’t know why since they all go to the same port next. It is a 60-90 minute drive each way which really cuts down on the time we will have in Rome. Most of the Rome tours are 9-10 hour tours and include detailed tours of the Coliseum and other sites in the morning and a detailed tour of Vatican, Sistine Chapel, St Peter’s Basilica in the afternoon. We were on another cruise line and paid for a small group excursion of 12. It was worth it not to spend half the time waiting for others on bathroom breaks or getting back to the bus late. This will probably be the one tour for sure where we will pay for a private tour guide and driver so that our grandchildren will see the complete Vatican tour.

Florence is beautiful. We did a full day there with the focus being Michelangelo’s David. There is so much history in the buildings, cathedrals, bridges. There are many tours that combine Florence with Pisa. It really depends on how much focus you want verses how many places you want to cover.

In Villefranche, we did a day tour of Monte Carlo, Monaco and Eze. The drive is beautiful and covers part of the Grand Prix course. If you are interested in going inside the Casino in Monte Carlo, make sure your tour includes going inside which usually costs extra. Villefranche was not a tender port last time, so it will take longer to and from the ship on this trip.

We spent 3 days in Barcelona. We did a day trip in a van with 10 people total. It covered all the major sites and stopped at most of Gaudi’s main works. Being foodies, I checked ahead and made reservations at three restaurants for dinner.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

This is a very Port intensive cruise. Which Port are we each most looking forward to visiting.
Tom is especially interested in Rome. I have to give it some more thoughts.
We have been to Barcelona and did some touring around that area. We did book 2 nights pre cruise with Disney.

Right now I'm still doing research; but due to the time restraints of seeing Rome; we are leaning towards doing the Boat Cruise at Bracciano Lake; since as Lindaq6025 posted; we would only have about 6 to 7 hours in Rome and I don't want to feel rushed. I'm looking forward to seeing Pompeii. The wife is happy to finally make it to Europe; she is just worried I'm going to over plan the trip.

Psy

 

[kayochan]

Hello All!

We just booked this cruise. We are DW, DH, DS (11), DS (15). This will be our 6th DCL cruise and our second Med cruise with them. Our last one was the Dover to BCN cruise (we loved both BCN and London!). Looking forward to trying new restaurants and seeing Pompeii!

 

[lindaq6025]

Right now I'm still doing research; but due to the time restraints of seeing Rome; we are leaning towards doing the Boat Cruise at Bracciano Lake; since as Lindaq6025 posted; we would only have about 6 to 7 hours in Rome and I don't want to feel rushed. I'm looking forward to seeing Pompeii. The wife is happy to finally make it to Europe; she is just worried I'm going to over plan the trip.

Psy

These are really popular ports. While you may not want to over plan, you do need to make decisions about excursions a few months before departure. Popular ship excursions can sell out and private excursions can be hard to book as well.

 

[bobbiwoz]

Hello All!

We just booked this cruise. We are DW, DH, DS (11), DS (15). This will be our 6th DCL cruise and our second Med cruise with them. Our last one was the Dover to BCN cruise (we loved both BCN and London!). Looking forward to trying new restaurants and seeing Pompeii!

I'm glad to see so many repeat DCL Med cruisers! We did a Greek Island cruise years ago with a Greek cruise line. That was also port intensive.

 

[PsylockeSmythe]

These are really popular ports. While you may not want to over plan, you do need to make decisions about excursions a few months before departure. Popular ship excursions can sell out and private excursions can be hard to book as well.

I'm very good at planning and end up doing a lot of research on where we are going and working up a plan of attack on how to accomplish our goals (I've been reading tons of trip reports).

Since we still have 15 months before the trip; I figure that we don't have to have everything nailed down until November of this year. I've still not figured out if it will be better to book some of the excursions through Disney or directly with a tour provider. The wife is leaning towards using Disney incase of anything happens (she also wants the flights booked through Disney, instead of us making arrangements); even if it costs us more out of pocket. While I'm more for the money savings as long as the experience of the tour and quality is there.

Psy

 

[lindaq6025]

I'm very good at planning and end up doing a lot of research on where we are going and working up a plan of attack on how to accomplish our goals (I've been reading tons of trip reports).

Since we still have 15 months before the trip; I figure that we don't have to have everything nailed down until November of this year. I've still not figured out if it will be better to book some of the excursions through Disney or directly with a tour provider. The wife is leaning towards using Disney incase of anything happens (she also wants the flights booked through Disney, instead of us making arrangements); even if it costs us more out of pocket. While I'm more for the money savings as long as the experience of the tour and quality is there.

Psy

It is really what you feel comfortable with. The official Disney Excursions are more expensive and the groups are large. You spend a lot of time waiting for people to catch up, head counts on the bus after every stop, long lines at the bathroom stops. Not everyone checks back on time. But the ship will not leave without you and you usually get to see everything the rating of the tour company.y promise.

Private tours are smaller, cheaper, and can be tweaked to what you want to see. They can get "Skip the Lines" tickets ahead of time for major attraction entrances if that's what they promise. They stop when you want to stop for a bathroom break or lunch/snacks. Trip Advisor has reviews that you can check. Be sure you look at the most recent reviews and the rating they give. Time your return to the ship 30-60 minutes before departure.

We used private tours last June for a Baltic cruise on another cruise line. One was a 3-day tour of St. Petersburg. The guide was great; there were 12 people. By the third day, with one more stop to go, we were all exhausted. We all looked around and asked just to be taken back to the ship. The tour guide had plenty of energy left and was more that willing to keep going but she said, "No problem." And took us home about an hour early.

One thing I forgot to mention about Monte Carlo: if you want your kids to go inside the casino, you need to check the hours that children are allowed in. They can go into the lobby, but are limited as to when they can go into the actual casino. Check the casino website, don’t just count on the excursion tour guide description. They often say they visit the casino, but that doesn’t mean you can go into the gaming rooms. As it stands now, children can go into the gaming rooms in the morning when there is no gaming going on. In the afternoon, they can go in the lobby only. One option then would to be to leave the children in the lobby with one parent and take turns going into the gaming rooms for a quick walk through. There is an extra charge.