JUN 06 2007 Magic - 10 day Mediterranean ( READ INFO POST # 1 )

[crusincrazy]

Tried to pm you but my postcount is still too low - grrr !

I see we are on 'the' list - if you want to add our names we are Rachel and Mike ...... pleased to meet you all ! Do you want to know where we are from ??? ......Uk ( Cornwall )

We too are planning to go it alone in several ports - got lots of guide books !

 

[kathyfm1]

Just wanted to recommend a book to all of you with kids.

500 Places to Take your kids before they grow up. By Frommers. ISBN 0-764-9588-1. It has so many of the places that we are visiting with great tips, website addresses, and recommendations.

IE, If you are not going to Pompeii but would like to still see the artifacts, mosaics, frescoes, you can visit them at the Nationla Archaelogical Museum, Piazza Museo Nazionale 18-19. Entrance fee is about $20 USD.

As far as pre-cruise, we are currently in the process of booking Disney Adventures - Southern Spain. It is a 9 Day All-Inclusive Package touring Spain. The nice part is that they are running a special, each paying adult, child under 15 goes free! Not many of those with Disney.

Also, there are so many low budget airlines in Spain. Our flight from Seville to Barcelona is $20 Euros one-way.

Vueling


Hoping to get more tips from you too!

Kathy

 

[pjtulsa]

so many thoughts not enought time....


ok I am wondering If people would like to share where they'll be staying and/or if people will be making signs for their doors.

Bill and I have a Cat 12 GTY so unfotunatly we won't know for sure until we get there.

I know that Lime Green mickey heads are usually the tell tale sign but I am wondering if people would like we could arrange for some adult meeting times around the pool or cafe or if people would rather arrange meetings on their own.

I am also thinking it would be good to share info about excursions etc.

We are doing 4 DCL sponsored excursions: Pompeii and the Almalfi Coast, Highlights of Rome and the Vatican, Aix en Provence (morning tour) and The Eveing at the Casino.

We want to do Palermo, Olbia, La Spezia, Marseille, and Villefranche at least partly on our own.

so that is all for now. we don't have that much time left people... let's get excited!!!!!

We too are a gty cat 10 so no room number as of yet. We are currently looking over the excursions with hopes of deciding this weekend. We are going to try to do some on our own since DCL packages are so expensive, + I wanted to do Florence/Piza and it seems to be sold out. The only thing I have noticed with doing your own tour is that you are paying DCL in US $ and using Euro on your own it looks like it could add up pretty quick. Oh decisions, decisions. We also dont have a hotel yet, not sure when we will arrive but if you have any suggestions for quad rooms I would love to hear them, it seems they are very hard to find. I think a get together on board would be nice, anyone with a suggestion on day/time?

less than 6 weeks to go! yippie
Paula

 

[sharolyn]

I would love to know where to book a quad room in barcelona....we are at the airport marriot right now, but really, we need more room.

as for the excursions, i am trying to figure out that one as well. do you guys think we have enough time to take a train to florence and then on the way back to port stop by for a "quick look" at the leaning tower?? i know we would probably not be able to climb up it, but at least look at it?? it looks like the train goes through pisa on the way to florence. everyone i have talked to says do not miss florence, and forget about the pisa tower. of course i have all the kids that want to see the tower, soooo, we are thinking take the train to florence do all the activities there, and IF we have time on the way back to the boat, stop and have a look at the leaning tower. if anyone is interested in doing this with us, since the disney tour is sold out, you are more than welcome. we will be using all public transportation, so the more the merrier!! just let me know...

 

[pjtulsa]

I would love to know where to book a quad room in barcelona....we are at the airport marriot right now, but really, we need more room.

as for the excursions, i am trying to figure out that one as well. do you guys think we have enough time to take a train to florence and then on the way back to port stop by for a "quick look" at the leaning tower?? i know we would probably not be able to climb up it, but at least look at it?? it looks like the train goes through pisa on the way to florence. everyone i have talked to says do not miss florence, and forget about the pisa tower. of course i have all the kids that want to see the tower, soooo, we are thinking take the train to florence do all the activities there, and IF we have time on the way back to the boat, stop and have a look at the leaning tower. if anyone is interested in doing this with us, since the disney tour is sold out, you are more than welcome. we will be using all public transportation, so the more the merrier!! just let me know...

I found this website that shows some NICE Apartments w/ Hotel rates but require a 3 night stay which we will only be there 2, check it out if it will work for you= apartment@barcelona.com

Do you know if Disney ever adds on extra excursions to the sold out ones? We really want to do both Florence & Piza are are worried about squeezing it in on our own, if we have to we will try and hope for the best. If we do it as a group at least we wouldnt be alone if the ship sails without us!!!

 

[mHeywood14]

Add 2 more kids to the list, 16 s & 13 d. Our 1st Disney Cruise, my daughter is very excited and lets just say my son cant stand the thought of spending 10 days with Mickey!

hey!
great more kids! my daughter would love to meet your DD see you there
mHeywood14

 

[dismed]

Hello everyone! My husband and I and our two boys (10 and 12) will be joining you on June 6. We are so excited. We just booked less than a month ago (Cat. 10 GTY) Is anyone planning to take the train to Rome? I noticed the cruise before us has a big group planning to ride in together. We are staying at the Hotel Alcibes (nothing fancy but it has a quad room, decent location, and supposed to be very clean) We plan to sightsee Barcelona as much as possible anyways.

 

[pjtulsa]

Hello everyone! My husband and I and our two boys (10 and 12) will be joining you on June 6. We are so excited. We just booked less than a month ago (Cat. 10 GTY) Is anyone planning to take the train to Rome? I noticed the cruise before us has a big group planning to ride in together. We are staying at the Hotel Alcibes (nothing fancy but it has a quad room, decent location, and supposed to be very clean) We plan to sightsee Barcelona as much as possible anyways.

We are also looking at the train to Rome. Also a Cat 10 GTY hoping for an upgrade!!! What kind of price did you get for the quad? Everything I find is very pricey and doesnt look that great.

 

[crusincrazy]

Yeah we are giving the train some thought too as it's very cheap and very reliable . Thinking of using it too for the Pisa day .

We are also getting quite concerned about pickpockets in Italy - we know Barcelona is a nightmare for this but every guide book and site you visit regarding Italy has warnings about it . Anyone else worried ????

 

[OKC Robert]

My family (myself, wife, 2 sons, ages 15 & 13) have reserved Marcello Maresca of seesorrento.com for a tour along the Amalfi Coast and Pompeii. He can accomodate 6 people, so we're looking for 2 more to join us. The cost including tip is 100 euros per person, which is in line, I think with the Disney shore excursions. The advantage of a smaller group is quicker travelling with a smaller group, and we can get places earlier than the tour buses meaning fewer crowds and cooler temperatures earlier in the day.
E-mail me if interested.
Thanks.

 

[funnybunny921]

Hotel in BCN: Since it is just me and my husband we didn't have to worry about quards. We are staying at Hotel Jazz. It is at the top of las ramblas. We hope to get to montserrat while we are there, and otherwise see some museums and enjoy the atmosphere.

Excursions: We decided to go with DCL for the Rome trip because I really wanted to get into the Vatican, and it seems with out a tour group you'll be waiting in line for a long time.

Pickpockets: This is something I always worry about when traveling, but I plan accordingly. My husband and I will try to not carry much cash/Euros, but what we have we will split. I carry a wallet separate from my purse (one of those hidden things) in which i keep one cc and some money. I'll probably also keep a copy of my passport with that. Then in my purse i'll have my atm, cc, drivers license and a little spending cash. I use a purse that lays over your body that zips completly and my husband uses a smaller wallet that zips completly that he keeps in a front pocket (he's more aware of it there). What I worry most about is my backpack when traveling all day, but i think i might put a little luggage lock on the main zippered area for piece of mind.

Sorry this was long.

 

[grizbuzz]

Looks like my post count is too low to send a PM...

If you want to add our names to the list...Jen and John

We're flying into London on May 31, staying there a couple of nights, training to Paris, staying there a couple nights and then overnight training on Elipsos to Barcelona. Used Rail Europe per advice which I got here on disboards. Was surprised that they didn't have any 4-person cabins on overnight train, so had to get 2 2-person.

We are in cat 12 gty...so no room number.

Looking forward to the trip!

 

[dismed]

pjtulsa: We booked the quad room at Hotel Alcibes for 123 euros/night (about $165.00/night). You can read about it on TripAdvisor. Like I said, it's nothing fancy but seems clean and well located. We plan on spending all of our time sightseeing anyways.
We are definitely taking the train to Rome. We have a private walking tour of the Vatican set up for 10:45 a.m. It will last three hours and we will then spend the rest of the day sightseeing in Rome. (Maybe the HOHO bus??? not sure)
Is anyone taking the train to Florence? I have the "Florence on Your Own" booked but am looking for ways to cut costs, if possible.
Maybe some of the people that plan on taking trains can meet and do it together. The cruise before us has about 60 people taking the train to Rome together and then going their separate ways.

 

[NavigatorPop]

Hi everyone. My family of four (DW Judy, DD Cortney 18 and DD Paige 15) will be on the June 6 cruise as well. Can anyone point me to a good summary thread about all the best options to book non-Disney shore excursions or other on your own options? These threads have been going on for so long and cover so much ground, it's hard to get a good handle on the options. I have a couple of Disney shore ex's booked but would like to do as much as possible on my own. Thanks for your help.

 

[sharolyn]

OK, after much research and reading every Rick Steves and Unofficial Guide that I could get my hands on, this is what we are doing for each of the ports...we have about 20 in our group at this time and any and all are more than welcome to join us. We are not doing any disney excursions...

Barcelona - Chocolate Museum and Ramblas (if you want to join us let me know so I can add you to our reservation) Cost for entrance is 4 euros.


Palermo - taking the bus to Modello Beach for less than $10 rt.

Naples - Group 1 - taking the train to Pompeii (2,20 one way), explore Pompeii and then taking the bus from Pompeii to hike up Mt. Vestivius (8,60 euros for bus ride to trail head, and 6,50 euros to climb) Group 2 - either going to take the train/bus or boat (12,00 euros) to the Amalfi Coast, then train back to Pompeii, visit Pompeii and train back to Naples. It looks like you can get a taxi from port to train station for 5,00 euros, but insist on meters. You can also use subway or bus.- or walk Cost to get into pompeii is 10,00 euros and there is a guidebook on Pompeii in gift store that is helpful for 11,00 euros. They say it takes about 3 hours to do pompeii.

Oblia - still not sure, but probably figuring out a way to get to a beach in Sardinia.

Rome - yes, we are taking the train and doing Rome in a day. We will do St Peters and the Vatican first, then head over and do the collesium, etc. We are wanting to do the Scavi Tour where you see the excavations beneath St Peters with a view of the bones believed to be St. Peter (15 euros and about 2 hours) After this tour you can enter St Peter's without waiting in line. Also want to do the Sistine Chapel. Getting around rome, we will probably use taxi's to save time, but can also use the subway and bus with the ticket used for the train.


La Spezia - taking the train to Florence. It changes trains in Pisa and runs hourly. It looks like the cost is $20 rt. We are planning on going to Florence first and seeing the Academy and Uffizi Museum, hanging out there for several hours and then heading back to the boat. IF we have time, we will go see the leaning tower of Pisa when we stop in Pisa on the way back. If not, then we just keep on going to the boat. We are going to try and do both Pisa and Florence. I think it can be done!! Let me know if you are interested in joining us on this one because you will need to make reservations at the acadamey and uffizi.

Marseilles - not sure what we are doing, probably just relaxing around whatever is near the port.

Villefranche - there is a public beach close to were we tender, or maybe take the train to Nice - 1,30 euro ow, 10 minute ride. Several in our group are going to the casino.

Hope this helps, if you have any questions, just email me or post here!! I actually have more detailed info on how, what and when to do the things, but just did not want to make a huge post. Email me if you want more...

Sharolyn

 

[funnybunny921]

ok I updated people's info.

In case people didn't know the Formal night is the 7th (first day at sea) the semi formal is the 14th (Villefranche) and the pirates is the 13th (Marseille).

I am bummed about the semi formal b/c we will be missing it for the evening at the casino. Is anyone else going on that excursion? I am not a gambler, but i figured it would be fun and my DH is super excited about it. I was hoping to maybe find a few people to hang out with though.

 

[sharolyn]

we will have a group going for sure!! i am trying to figure out a cheaper way to do this one as well....after looking at all the other excursions and seeing the markup, i think i want to do this on our own. will let you all know....we got our cabins today and we are all next to each other!! yeah...last time some were on one deck and me on another, it was VERY inconvenient. how do you know about formal night and pirate night????

 

[sharolyn]

how does that work, did they give you any grief about doing this. we have a guy that wants to go but has a week to do at WEst point and will not be done until friday. we found air to get him to rome, take the train to Naples and he can meet us in Naples by like 9 am Saturday morning. I am just curious as to what Disney does in a situation like this!! Any input???

 

[funnybunny921]

we will have a group going for sure!! i am trying to figure out a cheaper way to do this one as well....after looking at all the other excursions and seeing the markup, i think i want to do this on our own. will let you all know....we got our cabins today and we are all next to each other!! yeah...last time some were on one deck and me on another, it was VERY inconvenient. how do you know about formal night and pirate night????

I called and asked about the nights... that was a while ago, i might call again some time closer to confirm.

I figured I would pay disney to ensure there was no missing the boat (late night last stop of the cruise etc....) we are going to do the train and on your own touring during the day. I guess when i stop to really think about it 100$ for transportation and "entrance fee" is a lot, but it is the thing DH has been talking about since December so i would rather not risk ruining it.

 

[pjtulsa]

we will have a group going for sure!! i am trying to figure out a cheaper way to do this one as well....after looking at all the other excursions and seeing the markup, i think i want to do this on our own. will let you all know....we got our cabins today and we are all next to each other!! yeah...last time some were on one deck and me on another, it was VERY inconvenient. how do you know about formal night and pirate night????

Have they ever change your cabin number once they assign it? I had my fingers crossed for an upgrade. (boo hoo) We are right next to the conference rooms and directly below the dining room, any idea on what the noise level will be???