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

[J&HSal]

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????

Hey Sharolyn, call Hayley and let her know our rooms! Finally decided to sign-up for this after reading everything.

We are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO excited!

Also, we (well, me) are considering not hiking Vesuvius and doing the Amalfi Coast instead!

 

[J&HSal]

Were do we get the info about what formal and semi-formal means on a cruise line? To me formal is a tux and semi is a jacket and tie. But I'm not about to waste my wine carrying suitcase space on all these extra clothes!

 

[pjtulsa]

I have not been on a DC before but it appears that the other threads are planning some pretty heavy parties for Adults, Teens and youth. Are we going to try to set some of this up too? It would be fun to get to know everyone we have been talking to.....

 

[funnybunny921]

Were do we get the info about what formal and semi-formal means on a cruise line? To me formal is a tux and semi is a jacket and tie. But I'm not about to waste my wine carrying suitcase space on all these extra clothes!

I think traditionally that is what it means and i think you can rent a tux as to not fill up your suitcase. DH still doesn't know what he wants to do.

I would be up for a meeting or two at the adult pool for drinks and fun... anyone else?

 

[sharolyn]

OK, I AM SAD!! Today I decided to try and get reservations at the Uffizi, but decided to look up the train schedule between LaSpezia and Florence, they are SOLD OUT!! What is that about?? I am trying to find out what the "milk run" trains are!! Does anyone know??? IF they are different than the ones on the train schedule website for Eurorail, then we might still be in luck! I also emailed the train people about doing a group thing...we shall see. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get to Florence???? I really, really, really want to do Florence, and I refuse to pay $89 per person to do Florence on my own....ok, maybe I might do florence on my own, but ugh, the train is only $20 rt!!!!!!!! and you could stop and see the leaning tower of Pisa. Anyway...still working on that, just need to know what a milk train is!

Hey Joe!! The formal night is NOT that formal!! So do not waste suitcase space!

Does anyone know exactly how much is cost to get into the casino?? just really curious...

Later all...
Sharolyn

 

[pjtulsa]

OK, I AM SAD!! Today I decided to try and get reservations at the Uffizi, but decided to look up the train schedule between LaSpezia and Florence, they are SOLD OUT!! What is that about?? I am trying to find out what the "milk run" trains are!! Does anyone know??? IF they are different than the ones on the train schedule website for Eurorail, then we might still be in luck! I also emailed the train people about doing a group thing...we shall see. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get to Florence???? I really, really, really want to do Florence, and I refuse to pay $89 per person to do Florence on my own....ok, maybe I might do florence on my own, but ugh, the train is only $20 rt!!!!!!!! and you could stop and see the leaning tower of Pisa. Anyway...still working on that, just need to know what a milk train is!

Hey Joe!! The formal night is NOT that formal!! So do not waste suitcase space!

Does anyone know exactly how much is cost to get into the casino?? just really curious...

Later all...
Sharolyn

Keep us posted on what you find out, that was my plan too.... We have 4, if all else fails maybe we could get a group and do a private tour???

Paula

 

[pjtulsa]

Keep us posted on what you find out, that was my plan too.... We have 4, if all else fails maybe we could get a group and do a private tour???

Paula

DCL did open more spots on the Florence/Pisa excurstion. I reserved this am just in case

 

[sharolyn]

OK, after looking at the website for trains and thinking that something did not look right, i went back and read all my books, again! I found in the Rick Steves book that there are hourly trains between Florence and La Spezia. For whatever reason, they do not show up on the Eurorail reservations page. I think as a last resort, we will maybe do the Florence on your own, and then take the train for $10 back to the boat, stopping in Pisa on the way back. On the Florence and Pisa one, does that price include any admissions into any of the galleries???? Is that just really the transportation between the two cities. Anyway...I am back to thinking we are going to try and do the train to Florence...just need to do a little more homework.

 

[pjtulsa]

OK, I AM SAD!! Today I decided to try and get reservations at the Uffizi, but decided to look up the train schedule between LaSpezia and Florence, they are SOLD OUT!! What is that about?? I am trying to find out what the "milk run" trains are!! Does anyone know??? IF they are different than the ones on the train schedule website for Eurorail, then we might still be in luck! I also emailed the train people about doing a group thing...we shall see. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get to Florence???? I really, really, really want to do Florence, and I refuse to pay $89 per person to do Florence on my own....ok, maybe I might do florence on my own, but ugh, the train is only $20 rt!!!!!!!! and you could stop and see the leaning tower of Pisa. Anyway...still working on that, just need to know what a milk train is!

Hey Joe!! The formal night is NOT that formal!! So do not waste suitcase space!

Does anyone know exactly how much is cost to get into the casino?? just really curious...

Later all...
Sharolyn

Here's a link for the casino, looks like $10 Euro admission and an extra $10 to go into private rooms.

 

[J&HSal]

OK, after looking at the website for trains and thinking that something did not look right, i went back and read all my books, again! I found in the Rick Steves book that there are hourly trains between Florence and La Spezia. For whatever reason, they do not show up on the Eurorail reservations page. I think as a last resort, we will maybe do the Florence on your own, and then take the train for $10 back to the boat, stopping in Pisa on the way back. On the Florence and Pisa one, does that price include any admissions into any of the galleries???? Is that just really the transportation between the two cities. Anyway...I am back to thinking we are going to try and do the train to Florence...just need to do a little more homework.

I was going to say that unless this train is different than what I've been on in italy, we should be able to walk up and jump on a train. Tickets can ussually be purchased via machine w/ a CC. We just need to buy a round trip ticket to make it easy.

 

[sharolyn]

i guess my question then is, are there different trains than the ones listed on the eurorail site?? rick steves is saying every hour, but that is not what is being shown on the eurorail site. my hunch is that there are other local trains that might not be listed. it looks like from what i read in the book that it is a commuter train from la spezia to florence. it looks like there are 2 an hour from pisa to florence. for the price, it is worth looking into, but then again, if we get there and the eurorail site is correct and there are only three trains a day to florence from la spezia, leaving at 7 am (to early), 12:30 ish (to late) and an even later one, then we miss out on Florence! Let me know what anyone finds....i am still looking into it. I find it hard to believe that rick steves would have this wrong, so i am thinking that there are probably trains leaving la spezia to florence once an hour that for whatever reason just do not show up on the eurorail site.

on another note, i thought i would look into private tours, just to see costs, etc. on travels with friends dot com they have tours and the price does not actually look bad. if you book all three ports wtih them, it is even cheaper. right now, just looking at doing the florence transfer with them it would be for 17 - 24 people, 1350 euros total (for us 23 right now, 58.70 euros each) and for 25-50 people 1400 euros (meaning we can add anyone interested in this with us!!). For Naples, Amalfi Coast Dr and Pompeii, it is $1340 euros total for 18 - 27 people (or for us 23, 58.26 per person) and $1490 euros for 28 - 36 people (again, anyone want to join us??). On Rome it is 1300 euros for 19 - 25 people and 1500 for 26-50 people.

I have emailed them to ask about a Florence-Pisa routing and am waiting to hear their response. Anyway, if anyone is interested in doing this with us, let me know. It looks like it is cheaper than disney and a little more than doing this on our own. i am just really wondering about the Florence thing, and really, really want to see Florence. At this point, paying about $60 euros to get there is not that bad. I would rather pay the $20 on a train, but there are if's with that way. Comments anyone?????

 

[J&HSal]

Here is the meat of a note sent to me by a friend of mine who lives in Milan. I've searched many sites like trenitalia.com but these, like the rail europe, only provide information on intercontinental or interstate trains. There is information on the local trains, ie the ones that leave hourly and serve only the region. However, I couldn't get a local schedule between La Spezia, Pisa, and Florence. I did find Firenze S.M.N. local train schedule, but it only showed stops between and to Pisa airport including Pisa Centrale. La Spezia wasn't on the list of times.

Regarding your stop in La Spezia and your idea of visiting both Pisa and Florence, in order to check exactly the train timetable I need to know your arrival day; however, in my opinion, the schedule for a journey to both Firenze and Pisa would be too tight. I would suggest to visit only Pisa or only Firenze, or otherwise, "Le Cinque Terre" on the coast (see maps attached).
Just to give you an idea, if you want to go to Pisa pls. consider that there is a train leaving La Spezia central station around 08.00 a.m. and another one leaving around 08:50 (train no. 9393) with arrival in Pisa after 1 hour approx; back from Pisa at 17:00 with arrival in La Spezia at 17:52, or dept. at 17:36 with arrival at 18:38 (later would be a risk, as you have to consider possible delay on train schedule ...).
If you go only to Florence there is a train leaving from La Spezia around 8:50 a.m. and arriving to Florence after one hour and a half and you have enough time for sightseeing and be back on the ship on time, but if you want to include Pisa this would be an example of schedule :
Arr. in Pisa at 8:52 or 09:36 then at 11:24 dept. from Pisa to Florence with arr. in Florence at 12:30; dept. from Florence around 16:45/17:00 to be back to La Spezia on time, with only 4 hours time for sightseeing in Florence, too tight !
As alternative, as far as a trip to Riomaggiore and "Le Cinque Terre" is concerned, there is a train leaving La Spezia at 07:58 with arrival in Riomaggiore at 08:06, or at 10:00 with arrival in Riomaggiore at 10:08 (back at 18:35 arr. in La Spezia at 18:46).

 

[funnybunny921]

J&H Sal this is why (in regards to what your friend said) that we decided that we are just too far from florence and that we would rather not go that be so rushed as to not see much at all.

We are going to take the train to cinque terre, thought i can find much on the schedule i know it isn't far and it should be a more relaxing day after spending 12 hours in rome the day before.

i wish disney gave us more information about when the shows will be and what other special events they will have going on on the boat. I hope on a day like rome when so many of us will be out for so long that we would be missing an "only for the med cruises" type of event. I am already sad to be missing the semi formal night.

 

[Kissimmee]

Good to see your thread perking up.. Enjoy your cruise...

I wonder if I can convince the wife to do a back to back to back?

 

[funnybunny921]

Good to see your thread perking up.. Enjoy your cruise...

I wonder if I can convince the wife to do a back to back to back?

With enough money and vacation time.... How did your meet and bbq thing go?

 

[pjtulsa]

OK, I AM SAD!! Today I decided to try and get reservations at the Uffizi, but decided to look up the train schedule between LaSpezia and Florence, they are SOLD OUT!! What is that about?? I am trying to find out what the "milk run" trains are!! Does anyone know??? IF they are different than the ones on the train schedule website for Eurorail, then we might still be in luck! I also emailed the train people about doing a group thing...we shall see. Does anyone have any suggestion on how to get to Florence???? I really, really, really want to do Florence, and I refuse to pay $89 per person to do Florence on my own....ok, maybe I might do florence on my own, but ugh, the train is only $20 rt!!!!!!!! and you could stop and see the leaning tower of Pisa. Anyway...still working on that, just need to know what a milk train is!

Hey Joe!! The formal night is NOT that formal!! So do not waste suitcase space!

Does anyone know exactly how much is cost to get into the casino?? just really curious...

Later all...
Sharolyn

I put in an email request for more info on why the trains were all sold out and here's a copy of the reply I got.....Its good news:

The train schedules for Italy have not been released to us for the
summer schedule. We are still waiting for Trenitalia to release those.
Hopefully they should be available in the next couple of weeks.
If you put in a date for May, it will show you current schedules and
pricing.
We regret the inconvenience this may cause you. Should you need further
assistance, please contact us. Thank you.

Sincerely,
Jen
Internet help desk.


Hope this info puts some minds to rest, Florence here we come!!!

 

[mHeywood14]

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Cruisernut ............. DW 37 - DH 35 - DD 5 - DS 7
funnybunny921 ...... Sarah DW 25 - Bill DH 26
jswoodard ............. Sarah DW 36 - DH 41 - DD 3 - DD 6
marlaymike ............ Marlay DW early 30's - Mike DH early 30's - Plus two co-workers in mid 30's
sharolyn.....

David-DH 47, Sharolyn-DW 48, Trey-DS 18, Will-DS 14, Tara-DD 11, Karl-Brother 47, Kathy-DW 44, Jacob-DS11, Shane-DS 6, Austin-DS16, Brent-DS 17, Brent-DS 18, Matt-DS 17, Mike-DS 17, Megan-DD 17, Alexis-DD 17, Evelyn-DD 23, Hayley- DW 29, Joseph-DH 32, Jennifer-DW 40ish, Theresa-DW 40ish, DeDe-DW 30ish​

Kathyfml................ Kathy, Tom, Leigh-DD 14, Patrick-DS 11
Pjtulsa................... DS(16), DD(13)
Cruisincrazy............ Rachel, Mike, DD(17), DD(14)
grizbuzz................. Jen, John, DS(4), DS(2)
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2littlestiches........... DW, DH, DS(6) DS(5), Sister, BiL, Brother, Parents
mHeywood............. DH(40ish), DW(40ish), DS(17), DD(12->13)
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Rome

Interesting Information for Rome Tourists "Beware of three arm gypsies" I'm not kidding

One way, the way we will be taking, to see Rome is by Train. Approximately 9 Euros gets you a 24 hour pass to ride the train round trip and full use of the Busses and Subway. Think We will use the $ we save on a 5 star Roman Dinner.

Taking the Train from Port Civitavecchia to Roma


Subway map of Roma

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sorry i must of put my DH wrong or you did it is 40ish not 10ish SORRY CHANGE IT!!!!!!!PLZ

 

[sharolyn]

OK, we have one more, Paul, DS, age 17. And no, these are not all my children. We are just bringing a huge crew with us and I did not know how else to list them!! And, I love them all as my own anyway, so.....

I am still waiting on the price for private shore excursions to Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Florence and Monte Carlo. It looks like it is going to be VERY reasonable and no headache about catching trains!! All though i do think that would be half the fun. BUT, with 23 of us, I dont know, schedules just might be more work than vacation. Think I am just going to go with the easy way if it is reasonable. Right now, it is looking like about 40 - 50 euros per person per port. So.... let me know if anyone is interested!
Sharolyn

OH, have I said today how excited i am!!!! I seriously can not wait!!!

 

[J&HSal]

Yo,

I need the list of names and sizes. Just send the new names and a tally of sizes. The girls go from small to XL. The boys have yoth sizes up to xxl.

 

[pjtulsa]

OK, we have one more, Paul, DS, age 17. And no, these are not all my children. We are just bringing a huge crew with us and I did not know how else to list them!! And, I love them all as my own anyway, so.....

I am still waiting on the price for private shore excursions to Barcelona, Naples, Rome, Florence and Monte Carlo. It looks like it is going to be VERY reasonable and no headache about catching trains!! All though i do think that would be half the fun. BUT, with 23 of us, I dont know, schedules just might be more work than vacation. Think I am just going to go with the easy way if it is reasonable. Right now, it is looking like about 40 - 50 euros per person per port. So.... let me know if anyone is interested!
Sharolyn

OH, have I said today how excited i am!!!! I seriously can not wait!!!

Good Morning Sharolyn,

We too are VERY Excited! We would also be interested in joining your group on excursions, sounds like you have several teens so whats 2 more plus the old folks...

Paula,