July 8th, 2023 - 7-Night Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona (Cannes, Livorno, Naples, Civitavecchia)

[CanadianCruiser]

Hello! Is anyone else going on this cruise? Our family is planning to be on this cruise and we are hoping to find some information about this trip.

1. What to do our port day in Livorno (Florence)? We were planning to visit the Accademia Gallery and Uffizi Gallery but it seemed they are both closed on Monday, July 10, 2023 when we are there.
2. Anyone planning to take the train from Civitavecchia to Rome? Is the train station very far from port? How easy is it to navigate the subway station in Rome city centre to get on the right train to the Spanish Steps?
3. How far is the Barcelona port from airport? Since we are arriving back in Barcelona at 8am on debarkation day, is it too rush to have our flight home at noon?

Love to meet some people on this cruise.

 

[deserthusker]

We will be on this cruise as well. This will also be our first med cruise so we will be open to any tips.

 

[famviramontes]

We are four adults going on this cruise. My husband, son (29) and a friend of my sons (29). I am retiring, turning 60 and it is the year of our 30 year anniversary, so much to celebrate. This will be our 6th Disney Cruise, the last was when my son was 17. We are excited that now he is an adult we can go with him to Palo.

My son and I have been doing a lot of research and have found that if you are going to book anything start thinking about it now, a couple of excursions, not through DIsney, have been sold out or close to it. Not wanting to panic anyone but just if your really want to do something not through the cruise line now is a good time to start planning. This is just what we found, please do your own research. We are a planning family.

We are taking the train to Rome. We figure it is a 20 to 30 minute walk from the ship. There are numerous trains that go go, but only one or two express trains. The earliest express train appears to be at 9:07 which arrives too late for our tour. We are planning on taking an earlier train that has more stops but actually stops closer to the colosseum. I read on another board these can get crowded because the local people use them to commute to Rome.

The Florence stop, we are going to book a Disney Excursion that goes to Pisa and Florence, adult only. This is a 10 hour excursion so that is why we are doing Disney, we don't want the excursion to be late and the ship to have sailed. Though I have heard they don't have to wait.

I am not sure about the airport to port. My husband and I are arriving a week early to enjoy Barcelona. I still need to plan that week. We have always been told not to book a flight before noon. Since we are traveling internationally, we want to give ourselves time. Most ships will accommodate earlier departures though.

Sorry if this is too long, I am just really excited.

 

[CanadianCruiser]

Hi Deserthusker and Famviramontes!

So nice to see someone else on this cruise! We are a family of 3 adults and 1 kid (16). This is our 6th Disney Cruise as well, first on the Mediterranean cruise. I've underestimated the amount of planning that goes into taking an Europe cruise. We were so used to spending our couple days prior to the Caribbean cruise at Disneyworld. Now I have to book a hotel in Barcelona, find excursions for the 2 days we are there, book transfers from airport and from hotel to port. DCL uses Renaissance Barcelona and Hilton Diagonal MAR Barcelona but these hotels do not have family suites. I don't want to chance having 2 rooms and they are not connecting.

We managed to switch our flight to 1pm instead of noon, so hopefully we will be okay. I've also booked Disney transfer on disembarkation day from port to airport. So I'm hoping that DCL will know our flight's time and get us there on time.

We are hoping to book Disney Excursions too but I read on here that there is not enough space for all the guests wanting to book a certain excursion. This was when Disney Magic was cruising and it is a smaller ship (2400 passengers). I wonder how hard it would be when it's time to book excursions, taking into account the Dream is a larger ship with 4000 passengers.

 

[gatechfan99]

Hey, I just found this page. We will be on this cruise as well. My wife and I are taking are 15 and 13 year old daughters along with 10 year old son. We are so looking forward to it. My wife has been to Europe a couple of times, but this will be the first for the rest of us.

We are flying into Barcelona direct from Atlanta, landing on Thursday morning to give us a couple of days to get rested and see some of Barcelona. We booked 2 rooms at the Hilton Diagonal Mar.

We are just planning on doing Disney excursions on all our port days. Given the travel distance on land each day, just don't want to risk something unexpected happening and missing the ship.

Also looking forward to being on the Dream again. It was the first Disney ship we ever did. Looking forward to the AquaMouse again! Counting down the days for sure.

 

[famviramontes]

Hi Deserthusker and Famviramontes!

So nice to see someone else on this cruise! We are a family of 3 adults and 1 kid (16). This is our 6th Disney Cruise as well, first on the Mediterranean cruise. I've underestimated the amount of planning that goes into taking an Europe cruise. We were so used to spending our couple days prior to the Caribbean cruise at Disneyworld. Now I have to book a hotel in Barcelona, find excursions for the 2 days we are there, book transfers from airport and from hotel to port. DCL uses Renaissance Barcelona and Hilton Diagonal MAR Barcelona but these hotels do not have family suites. I don't want to chance having 2 rooms and they are not connecting.

We managed to switch our flight to 1pm instead of noon, so hopefully we will be okay. I've also booked Disney transfer on disembarkation day from port to airport. So I'm hoping that DCL will know our flight's time and get us there on time.

We are hoping to book Disney Excursions too but I read on here that there is not enough space for all the guests wanting to book a certain excursion. This was when Disney Magic was cruising and it is a smaller ship (2400 passengers). I wonder how hard it would be when it's time to book excursions, taking into account the Dream is a larger ship with 4000 passengers.

The nice thing is by doing so may cruises you get to book excursions a bit earlier. I was told we can book April 9 midnight EST.

 

[CanadianCruiser]

Welcome gatechfan99 !

Famviramontes, I thought we are able to book our excursions at 105 days because we are Gold Castaways. Just have to pay-in-full first, then we can book on March 25 midnight EST. For us, March 24 at 9pm because we are on the West Coast.

I saw on this forum a link to calculate our booking window for excursions for all Castaway Club level.

https://disneycruiselineblog.com/cruise-planning/booking-window-date-calculator/

 

[FastPasser.]

We are flying into Barcelona direct from Atlanta, landing on Thursday morning to give us a couple of days to get rested and see some of Barcelona. We booked 2 rooms at the Hilton Diagonal Mar.

Hey gatechfan99, we Just booked this cruise last night. We're also flying out of Atlanta but landing on Friday. And we're also staying at the Hilton Diagonal Mar before and after the cruise. Haven't booked the flights yet. We're in Cumming.

 

[FastPasser.]

Just an interesting observation. This cruise and a number of other European cruises have been made available to CMs for a long time and still are. Generally that's not the case, many cruises are never offered. I'm taking that to mean that it may turn out to be NOT a sold out cruise which is a good thing. Or it may turn out to be sold out but with a lot of CMs on board, and they're annoying. Just kidding, we're well behaved. You won't be able to tell the difference.

 

[gatechfan99]

Hey gatechfan99, we Just booked this cruise last night. We're also flying out of Atlanta but landing on Friday. And we're also staying at the Hilton Diagonal Mar before and after the cruise. Haven't booked the flights yet. We're in Cumming.

We're driving from Alabama but it's worth it not to worry about connections. Hope you're right about it maybe not being a sold out cruise. And if you see someone at the Hilton or onboard with either Falcons or GA Tech clothes on, it's probably me!

 

[FastPasser.]

We're driving from Alabama but it's worth it not to worry about connections. Hope you're right about it maybe not being a sold out cruise. And if you see someone at the Hilton or onboard with either Falcons or GA Tech clothes on, it's probably me!

Direct flights are the way to go.

I'd like to be right about not being sold out too but it it's just not the norm to offer the cruise so early.

You're coming in from Alabama but you're a Falcons and GA Tech fan, are you a GA transplant? I'll be on the lookout. I'm can't tell you what team cap I might be wearing. While we live in GA now we've only lived here a few years.

 

[gatechfan99]

Direct flights are the way to go.

I'd like to be right about not being sold out too but it it's just not the norm to offer the cruise so early.

You're coming in from Alabama but you're a Falcons and GA Tech fan, are you a GA transplant? I'll be on the lookout. I'm can't tell you what team cap I might be wearing. While we live in GA now we've only lived here a few years.

Yes, went to college there to get my allegiances, but lived in Alabama most of my life. Atlanta always will feel like my second home.

 

[CanadianCruiser]

I don’t think this cruise is selling as well as some other itineraries because the price for the cruise hasn’t gone up. I booked this cruise on opening day and I noticed the price has not increased much. Usually with the popular itineraries, the price goes up by the hour on opening day.

For Barcelona excursion: has anyone booked through Barcelona Day Tours? I’m wondering if we should take a guided tour or do it on our own. Do you get much time on the group tour to walk around at each stop to check out the site (Casa Batllo, Casa Mila etc..). or is it just a quick stop then off to the next site? Also...Is it better to buy skip-the-line tickets (Parc Guell, La Sagrada Familia) through the tour operator or directly from the official website?

For Rome excursion: We were thinking of hiring a guide and do a walking tour of the city (Spanish steps, Trevi Fountain, Pantheon, Piazza Navona). But....July can get quite hot, I’m not sure how we would fare walking 3 hours in the midday sun. I found out online about the Rome golf cart tour. I wonder if anyone has done this?

 

[FastPasser.]

I don’t think this cruise is selling as well as some other itineraries because the price for the cruise hasn’t gone up. I booked this cruise on opening day and I noticed the price has not increased much. Usually with the popular itineraries, the price goes up by the hour on opening day.

Another sign that we may luck out.
I had no intention of doing a European cruise at this time but every time I checked the Disney CM website, there it was. It got to the point where I couldn't afford to pass it by.

 

[FastPasser.]

What's everyone doing regarding insurance?

 

[FastPasser.]

Hello, anybody out there?

 

[famviramontes]

Still here, just super busy part of the year for us. We bought insurance for the cruise, health issues can be an issue for us.

 

[FastPasser.]

Still here, just super busy part of the year for us. We bought insurance for the cruise, health issues can be an issue for us.

How much medical and evacuation coverage do you think is enough?

 

[famviramontes]

How much medical and evacuation coverage do you think is enough?

We just have the cost of the cruise and travel because our medical is covered.

 

[CanadianCruiser]

It's time for booking excursions/dining for us tonight.

I was able to book all the excursions that we wanted through DCL this evening. It looks to me like most of the excursions are still available. The only thing that I could not book was Palo Brunch. The website said that I have to check back at a later time or check onboard.

I was able to book Palo Dinner for us on the second sea day (July 14), but the available times are limited to 7:30 or 8:00pm. The first sea day (July 11) has many more openings available. I wonder if this is because the first sea day is Formal night on the 7 night cruise? I forgot what is the time for the evening shows, is it at 6:00pm and 8:30pm? Not sure if choosing 7:30pm for Palo is cutting a bit close to showtime.

FastPasser: We have not purchased medical or trip cancellation insurance yet. I do have emergency medical coverage through work but we might purchase trip cancellation insurance.