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

[misseulalie]

Kissimmee,
you are such a good sport!

Has anyone thought about what they are going to do the day in la spezia? it is one of two places we have to tender in and the more and more i think about it the less and less florence sounds like a good idea. I have never been to italy, but it just seems too far to go, esp more I read about Cinque Terre
Cinque Terre

Anyone with advice? Like i said I hate the thought of going all the way to Italy and not seeing Florence, but I hate the idea of spending soooooo much time in a motor coach if we are going to Rome the day before.

Florence was my least favorite city in Italy. We plan to use it a "relax on the ship" day.

 

[Kissimmee]

Florence was my least favorite city in Italy. We plan to use it a "relax on the ship" day.

Having never been on the ship in port is it dead? Do they have an special activities to entertain the stay behinds? I alway imagined it was when they did the repairs and cleaning until I wandered out late one night at sea and there were no carpets on deck 5 in the theater hallway.

Have you made up your mind yet which cruise?

 

[misseulalie]

Having never been on the ship in port is it dead? Do they have an special activities to entertain the stay behinds? I alway imagined it was when they did the repairs and cleaning until I wandered out late one night at sea and there were no carpets on deck 5 in the theater hallway.

Have you made up your mind yet which cruise?

Yep, we are on the Magic!!!

After ssailing RCCL and Carnival, there is no comparision to DCL!!!

We love to stay on the ship during port days. The pools are pretty empty, there are a few activities going on, but we just use the days to lounge by the pools, and relax. It's like our "quiet time"!!!

 

[Cruisernut]

Hello, hello, hello!!!

We are a family of 4 from Georgia booked on the June 6th med cruise. We booked back on April 6th when we were on the Magic in the caribbean. I've been searching cruisecritics' boards, but never found these boards!!!!!! I was getting really worried because there were no other people responding to my role call over there!!!! Anyway, great relief to have found you!

This will be our family's 3rd Disney cruise, our children's (son-7, daughter 5) 6th cruise, and our 8th. We are booked for RC's Mariner of the Seas for our spring break week, but truthfully, I can't even think about that one, because I'm so giddy about this one! I've never been to Europe before and as of last week, have been completely immersed in my travel guides!! It is so overwhelming to me. Since I am always the trip planner of the family (hubby likes to go along for the ride!), I'm pretty much the one to make these travel plans/decisions, so I'm really looking forward to having you guys to bounce ideas off of!

I've been looking at airfare for the last week. We had originally booked airfare with the cruise, but i didn't realize how vague it all is. I was told i would not know when we were flying, who we were flying and how many stops/layovers until 20-45 days in advance. That is just crazy! I'm toying with us flying into Barcelona a few days early, and then after the cruise flying out of Barcelona to London for a few nights, before flying back to Atlanta. My DH thinks that this is going to be way too long for the kids, but I so want to see it all, you know??? I'm looking into doing a mulit-city "open jaw" flight that will allow us to fly from A to B, B to C, and then C to A. I'd not heard of this before discovering it on cruisecritics.com.

I noticed that a few of you have younger children, also (WHICH I was the MOST excited about!!!). We are thinking that 2-3 of the days in port we will let the kids stay in kid's club (BY the way, we always have to DRAG our kids out of the kid's clubs!) while we take tours. The other days with less to see such as beach days in Sardinia and probably Sicily, I think our kids will enjoy more. I would love to hear the thoughts of what those with younger children are thinking they'll be interested in. I've also been checking into private tours for a few. I hadn't thought about the security of knowing the boat won't leave us behind with our children on board, though. This I need to think about.

We've booked a hotel in Barcelona for the first two nights, but also i'm not sure we will stay with this plan. We were able to find a room for four in the Eixample district. I also considered booking a hotel in the Barri Gotic area that is right off of Las Ramblas, but second guessed myself after reading reviews about pick pocketing and muggings. ANy info that any of you guys have on this would be so very welcomed.

Anyway, I better end this post, or else i'll scare you guys off! I'm thrilled to be onboard with you guys!!!!

 

[misseulalie]

Hi!! Welcome aboard!

Yes, I have two girls who will just have turned 4 and 6 on the ship with us. We plan to leave them on the ship for Rome and Sorrento/Naples. Those excursions are just too long and like you, we usually have to DRAGGGG the kids out of the clubs! So I'm sure they will have a great time on board while we go exploring.

Where are you from? We are planning to have a get together in Orlando prior to the cruise. Check out the previous posts about that...

Jennifer

 

[marlaymike]

We are going to buy our tickets this Saturday.

 

[Kissimmee]

Hello, hello, hello!!!

We are a family of 4 from Georgia booked on the June 6th med cruise.

I added you to the confirmed list in the first posting. If you want me to add Names, cabin # etc send me a PM.

As Jennifer (misseulalie) mentioned we are hoping to organize a Pre Cruise get together at WDW. Let me know if this is of interest.


Richard

 

[Cruisernut]

Hi, Everyone,

Jennifer, in answer to you question, we are from the Atlanta area. As far as the WDW pre-cruise get-together goes, I'm afraid it wouldn't be possible. We are also WDW fanatics and would LOVE to make it to Disney before the cruise, in fact already had made travel plans to go the last week of May which is our annual end of school tradition (kids get out of school 3rd week of May). Then after I started thinking about no down time between WDW and the med cruise, my DH got me to cancel the plans. . We are already coming down there for a week spring break cruise out of Pt. Canaveral and we can't take the kids out of school anymore during school time since we took them out this past October for another cruise. We've got a strict unexcused absense policy in our school district and we've reached the limit!

My daughter was so excited when i told her about the other little girls also going. Though, I'm sure she didn't think it would be any different then the other DCL cruises, but I started worrying that there would only be older kids aboard since it was Europe.

Richard, your info on the train in Rome is very appealing to me. I'm going to research it more. This is a definite option for us. Have you heard anything about the lines for tickets/ waiting to get in at this time of year? Part of the reason we chose Disney's med over Carnival's Freedom (we also had booked, but for end of July/ beg Aug) was that my friend who travels frequently to Europe said the crowds and the weather in early June are so much better than late July.

As another alternative for anyone interested, I have already made contact with a guide company called Romecabs (romecabs.com), which I heard about on cruisecritics boards. I liked the idea of the guide prepurchasing all your admission tickets to avoid the lines that i've read are horrible. Their price is 2 people-450 Euros, 4- 500E, 6-550 and 8-600. This does not include price into Colleseum ,Vatican museum (each of these 12 euros a person), lunch or private tour guide for the Vatican ( 60 euros an hour to split for group). They take you to all of the sites that I was interested in (everything that is listed in the VIP vatican tour/highlights of Rome, but also you can go into the Colleseum and see Trevi Ftn/ Spanish steps, too. I was looking at the Disney's excursion(wow-the price made me swoon!) which looked great ( I especially liked that you are supposed to be able to take pictures in the Sistine Chapel which apparently doesn't usually happen- Romecabs said the Swiss Guard does not allow it), but I didn't like that we wouldn't go into the Collesium. Also, I couldn't figure out if Trevi Ftn/ Spanish Steps were actually part of this excursion. Anyway, I'm pondering this as an option. My husband and I need to figure out about leaving the children on the ship for this day. It makes me dreadfully nervous. If we go as a couple, then we'd love to possibly share a tour. If we went as a family and there was another family considering bringing along their children, we'd also consider sharing a tour.

Richard, I'm a real newbie to message boards and I have to admit (gulp) that I don't know what PM is!!!

 

[Kissimmee]

Richard, I'm a real newbie to message boards and I have to admit (gulp) that I don't know what PM is!!!

Private message. If you click on My KISSIMMEE name to the left of one of my posts it will show you that option. No matter you can just post here and I'll see it as well.

 

[Cruisernut]

FunnyBunny-

I tried to PM you, but I'm not allowed until i have 6 posts! Guess I need to keep posting! I'd love to get the list of excursions and after a few more posts, I'll PM you the email address.

Richard- my husband is 35 and I'm 37 to add to the info. Yes, I went for the younger guy!!

 

[misseulalie]

FunnyBunny-

I tried to PM you, but I'm not allowed until i have 6 posts! Guess I need to keep posting! I'd love to get the list of excursions and after a few more posts, I'll PM you the email address.

Richard- my husband is 35 and I'm 37 to add to the info. Yes, I went for the younger guy!!

If you plan to leave the kids on the ship, then I highly recommend taking a DCL excursion. The ship will only wait for you if you are on a DCL excursion. You never know if there is too much traffic, the bus breaks down, or even if there are any strikes going on (Europe is infamous for having huge strikes and it usually affects traffic greatly)

You could choose a DCL excursion for the times you plan to leave the kids on the ship, then take a non-DCL excursion for when the kids are going with you.

 

[funnybunny921]

FunnyBunny-

I tried to PM you, but I'm not allowed until i have 6 posts! Guess I need to keep posting! I'd love to get the list of excursions and after a few more posts, I'll PM you the email address.

Richard- my husband is 35 and I'm 37 to add to the info. Yes, I went for the younger guy!!

np - if you want you can just email me at: sarahyoung921 at gmail dot com

 

[funnybunny921]

oh... i have mentioned this before, but i figure i'll mention it again on our thread. I have an xls sheet that I put some of the basic info for each excusion in... i have set it up that then i have a tab for each excusion day and can put notes on disney or non disney thing and keep track of spending etc. if you are interested just let me know and i'll send it to you.

 

[misseulalie]

oh... i have mentioned this before, but i figure i'll mention it again on our thread. I have an xls sheet that I put some of the basic info for each excusion in... i have set it up that then i have a tab for each excusion day and can put notes on disney or non disney thing and keep track of spending etc. if you are interested just let me know and i'll send it to you.

I don't think I got your XL spreadsheet. JUst the pages of the excursions copied from the DCL website. Can you send me the XL sheet?

I think you still have my PM from before with my email address?

Thanks!
Jennifer

 

[Kissimmee]

Sunday bump

 

[funnybunny921]

I have been working on my hotels and I think I have a list of about 7 that we are going to try and parse down and then eventually try and get a reservation. Its so hard, do I want a more modern hotel or a more historic one.... do I want a view and noise or no view and a quiet room. Anyone else having a hard time decided on where to stay?

Also, I have been researching companies in Naples because none of the disney excursions seem to have exactly what I want. and I don't know how people can say going outside of your cruise line is cheaper. I guess if you are a larger group it would be but it will come out to about 200$ more to go non-disney at this port.

about 4 months people --GET EXCITED!!!!!

 

[misseulalie]

Our trouble was finding a hotel that would fit 4 people. Plus, we didn't want an apartment since we have never been to Barcelona. We ended up finding an apartment that runs like a hotel. They have a front desk, consierege service and other Hotel amenities.

 

[Cruisernut]

After about 5 straight days of my life spent researching air, I finally booked us! Guess there's no turning back now since we'd lose a hefty chunk if we backed out. I ended up booking a roundtrip direct flight from Atlanta to London and a roundtrip from London to Barcelona. We are going to stay two nights in Barcelona prior to the cruise and 3 nights in London on the way back. I've tentatively booked hotels in both locations, but that is something i might change a few times if i find something that looks better. I was able to book in both locations a family room for 4, though they are certainly not 5-star hotels! Both received ok reviews on tripadvisor and venere and i know we will not be spending much time in them to begin with. They both received good marks on location and cleanliness. They both sound small, but it seems that is the norm in Europe. The four of us are used to staying in one regular cabin anyway with the two kiddies still being small! Next on my to do list is purchase trip insurance. Has anyone checked into their own privately arranged trip insurance? I know I want to buy a policy, but i'm not sure how close to the purchase of the air tickets you need to do it. We originally bought the Disney one, but i think i can find it for a couple hundred cheaper.

 

[Kissimmee]

After about 5 straight days of my life spent researching air, I finally booked us! .

What ticket prices did you get?

 

[Cruisernut]

I typed a lengthy post back last night, but just checked in today and it didn't post! The general idea was we booked non-stop delta, Atlanta to London for $4100 total (this includes the two children's fares for $940 each) and our round trip British Air London to Barcelona for $920 total. We could have gotten cheaper fares for both if we'd been willing to have connections in the first leg to London and if we'd flown Easy Jet in Europe. EasyJet would have been almost half cheaper ($550 total), but I was afraid to use them with the kids after reading mixed reviews as well as their open seating policy. If we didn't get seats together, it would never work. I know these fares are probably lousy, but I was getting worried waiting too long. Did you book and what rates did you get?

Anyone checking into trip insurance? I've gotten quotes from both CSA and Travelex. I called DCL yesterday to find out the policy on cancellation of excursions. FYI, you have until 3 days before boarding to cancel or you are charged the full excursion fees. Don't know if this applies if you have to cancel the cruise last minute or not. Probably does. I guess I need to figure out how much we may spend on tours before I buy an insurance policy so I can insure that amount, too. Any info on insurance would be appreciated!