June 1 Med - A Merry Band of Invalids (London, Barca, Med Cruise, Paris)

[clairedy6]

Really? Do you mind saying which other companies do this so that I can avoid them next time?

I don't know their exact names but if you look on the TripAdvisor page for the restaurant and search hard enough there's lots of reviews saying "our tour guide brought us here for lunch".

Also if you look at reviews of some of the top tour companies they'll say "our guide took us to (the same restaurant)"

 

[lilpooh108]

I don't know their exact names but if you look on the TripAdvisor page for the restaurant and search hard enough there's lots of reviews saying "our tour guide brought us here for lunch".

Also if you look at reviews of some of the top tour companies they'll say "our guide took us to (the same restaurant)"

I see what you mean. When we walked into the restaurant, every table in there was a tourist table (no locals, which to me is always a bad sign).

They had an entire back table of just tour guides. When our driver checked us in, they put a piece of paper on our table with our driver's name on it that said "8 p" for our 8 people who were there. Then they logged his name in a book (for his commission, I suppose). He sat at the tour guide table and got his free meal while waiting for us to order, and then chain smoked outside with his other driver friends while waiting for us to eat. I guess he had a great time

My DH and I considered for one moment of asking him to take us elsewhere, but everyone was tired and the kids were cranky so we stayed. I think that if it had been the 2 of us, we probably would have left.

It took over 20 minutes for someone to take our order, and they then charged a service charge per person for the yucky table bread. We had to ask for oil & vinegar for it. Call me cynical but one waiter "accidentally" brought us a bottle of wine instead of balsamic vinegar. I'm pretty sure they were going to charge us for it had we not noticed or sent it back.

It was situations like this (as well as being snapped at by the driver at Pompeii) that made me indignant throughout the day. Luckily, the rest of the family didn't know what was happening, and I was glad for it. No need for everyone to have a bad time

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

I so enjoyed reading this TR. First and foremost, your daughters are beautiful. The smiles on their faces, especially with Mickey and Minnie, made me choke up a little. Our daughter is 8 so it reminds me of how they make her smile too. I could go on and on about this topic, haha.

We are doing this exact same cruise the exact same week next year (ours leaves May 31). You mentioned a couple of times about the heat and humidity. Do you happen to remember what the temperatures were?

I bookmarked your TR so that when I start planning excursions, I can refer back to it easily. You provided such phenomenal, detailed information! I wanted to make sure I knew exactly where to go to research your tour companies, guides, etc.

I'm so glad you guys had a great time, and personally I am thankful that you decided to write a TR. You are helping my family plan properly by doing so!

Best wishes!!

 

[lilpooh108]

I so enjoyed reading this TR. First and foremost, your daughters are beautiful. The smiles on their faces, especially with Mickey and Minnie, made me choke up a little. Our daughter is 8 so it reminds me of how they make her smile too. I could go on and on about this topic, haha.

It is so amazing to see their little faces light up when they see the characters. I remember Baby Ems walking away from Daisy, patting her tummy in satisfaction when the picture was done. She was just astounded she met her favorite "person" in the whole world.

Is your daughter into princesses? They had so many princess photo opportunities on this trip. I'm sure she will really enjoy it

We are doing this exact same cruise the exact same week next year (ours leaves May 31). You mentioned a couple of times about the heat and humidity. Do you happen to remember what the temperatures were?

I bookmarked your TR so that when I start planning excursions, I can refer back to it easily. You provided such phenomenal, detailed information! I wanted to make sure I knew exactly where to go to research your tour companies, guides, etc.

I'm so glad you guys had a great time, and personally I am thankful that you decided to write a TR. You are helping my family plan properly by doing so!

Best wishes!!

It was actually cold and rainy in Barcelona that last week of May. I decided last minute to bring Columbia Sportswear fleece for the whole family and we all wore it in Barcelona (all 3 days). It was pretty cold without fleece. I was surprised.

Here is a picture near Placa Catalunya at 11:30 am. You can see a bunch of tourists off in the distance. Everyone was wearing jackets, sweaters.


In Villefranche, the weather was mild -- mid 70s.

We went to Portofino & Santa Margherita for our La Spezia day. These towns are by the sea and so the temperature was very mild. I wore a lightweight long sleeve and it was perfect. Probably low 70s with a breeze.

Rome was easily 85 or so and in the sun when you are walking, it starts getting pretty exhausting. It was humid....so it's good to apply sunblock and bring some too to reapply since you'll sweat it off. There isn't very much shade at the Forum or the Colosseum. There are also hordes of people, so it "feels" hot. The A/C doesn't work well in the Vatican. Hot hot hot.

The Roman Forum at around 10:30 am. Already hot hot:




Pompeii has no shade, and it was very very very hot. I don't remember the exact temperature, but I would guess it was low 90s. The sun reflects off all the white stone so it's sort of just blinding everywhere. It's also humid since its only a mile or 2 above the coast. It takes about 2 hours to tour Pompeii, so the heat gets exhausting. Kinda like being at WDW in July and walking around for 2 hours. Your tour guide will have you stand in the shade of a wall every time they do an explanation.

Pompeii at around 10:00 a.m. Bright and sunny, and the run reflects off the stone.



We loved the weather in Positano. It was probably low 80s, with a breeze.

The ship is always cold and it's super windy on deck. We brought a lot of layers in our luggage and that seemed to work well.

Let me know if you have other questions!

 

[abayaflowers]

Day 13 Naples -- Baby Ems v. The Sleazy Guy
Ok ladies, you know that guy in the bar? You know, that one. There's always that one guy, in the bar, whose wife and kids are at home, but he's all greasy looking sitting by himself in the bar, looking to pick up chicks? Yea, that guy. Well, that guy was our driver in Naples. UGH. ICK. HEEBIE JEEBIES.

Let me start off with a disclaimer: We had a GREAT TIME in Pompeii and in Positano. Unforgettable. Beautiful. But the entire day was sort of hijacked by The-Sleazy-Guy. Let me get all my gripes about The-Sleazy-Guy out of the way. The-Sleazy-Guy showed up late, so I had to ransack my diaper bag to figure out See Amalfi Coast's phone number. Then The-Sleazy-Guy yelled at me for grabbing extra things out of my diaper bag because he needed me to hurry up and get me out of the car, since he decided to drop us off at Pompeii by parking in an illegal spot. Then The-Sleazy-Guy took us a tourist trap restaurant where he: (1) gets a commission; and (2) a free lunch without telling us that this ginormous waste of time would cut our Positano time to 1 hour, and that we'd miss Sorrento.

Oh yea, and The-Sleazy-Guy told me that he has a baby mama in England, with a kid who refuses to speak/learn Italian and whom he only sees once a year because "the kid is British." I had to sit next to him for 9 hours of my life, listening to the sleaze.

I'm sad to say that we booked with the highly-rated "See Amalfi Coast." I can't recommend them based on our poor experience. But hey, the bright side is we saved some money compared to going with DCL. Yay?

Baby Ems avenged us against The-Sleazy-Guy by throwing up in his van (take that, Sleazy-Guy!) But we are kind people and we made sure she threw up on us instead of his seats (I'm like, Evil-lite). So she wore my skirt as her top for the rest of the day.

Good for Baby Ems! Babies are great!

I am so sorry to hear about your experience, because it's your vacation! Did you complain to the tour company?

 

[lilpooh108]

Good for Baby Ems! Babies are great!

I am so sorry to hear about your experience, because it's your vacation! Did you complain to the tour company?

You know, I didn't. I paid in cash and I really didn't expect anything back from them.

Like you guys...we had major jetlag and were super sick after we got home so I never got around to it. I actually just posted my TripAdvisor review a few days ago. I figure my TA rating and my review here would deter at least some people. That's enough for me.

In the end, we saved over going with other companies since we were able to see Positano. That *sort of* makes up for the negative experience.

Did you guys use a driver in Naples? Do you have any recs? We'd like to do Positano again in the future, and would love a recommendation.

 

[abayaflowers]

Day 8 -- Hellooooooooo Mickey Ship!!!!!! Part 2

We finally got into our Cabin at around 4:30 or 5pm. I went into the bathroom and (EEK) noticed brown smears on the toilet seat and all over the door jam. It was really gross. Our host was nowhere to be found, so DH grabbed a bunch of the Disney sani-wipes and I tried my best to wipe down the bathroom since we had to get ready for dinner. At this point we hadn't even checked the bed yet but later on this night (around 11pm) we'd find out that the sheets were dirty too under the coverlet (ewh). Pretty disappointing, but more of a hassle than anything else.

Yuck! DH and I checked everything in the room especially the bathroom.

While I unpacked, I called Room Service and ordered us a snack and DD some chocolate soy milk containers because she's allergic to dairy (and eggs, and nuts). I had read about the individual Silk soy milk containers on the DIS but had never ordered it before. It was super convenient to have these for her for the rest of the week. Here's what they brought. I specifically took a picture because it was hard for me to find out info on these before our trip.

DD10 is highly allergic to milk and dairy. I should have ordered this. I will remember this for the next cruise.

At 11:30 pm, we put Baby Ems down in our bed (with bed rails) and noticed some kind of dried snot or dried crusty stuff on the sheets near her face. Gross. Ick. At 12 am, DH called housekeeping with a simple request for a new sheet. 50 minutes pass and no one comes.

Yuck!

 

[lilpooh108]

DD10 is highly allergic to milk and dairy. I should have ordered this. I will remember this for the next cruise.

What did he drink during the cruise?

I know for a fact that DCL only recently started carrying the individual containers of soy milk. On prior cruises (as recent as last summer), they only had the huge kitchen-use containers that they'd pour out. It was also unflavored and DD hated them (she's 4).

I saw a post for the Fantasy and a lady mentioned that she ordered these.

I had to fax in a request, and they stocked them. Our head server mentioned my faxed request and brough out 2 each night for dinner. One for during dinner and one for before bed.

The ones that room service gave us she drank throughout the day. We actually had 2 leftover at the end of the cruise that we left in the room untouched (hopefully they didn't just toss them).

**BTW, the special diets department at the DCL call center had no idea what I was talking about and asked me to bring them myself. I would have, but since it was the Med I didn't know what they'd have in Spain. Anyway, I had to physically write it in as a request. Just FYI for future ordering purposes.

 

[lilpooh108]

Found 3 photos of the Scavi Office, taken prior to the Scavi Tour.

 

[Deb in IA]

lilpooh, I started reading your trip reports, and am enjoying them a lot!

Just wanted to tell you that your DD's are TOO CUTE!!
I also had reservations about putting our children's pictures on the Internet, but now that they are both adults (22 and 18), I finally got over that! They've posted themselves all over Facebook anyway.

Keep in touch - I'd love to cruise with you on the 2014 EBTA! Hope it works out!

 

[lilpooh108]

lilpooh, I started reading your trip reports, and am enjoying them a lot!

Just wanted to tell you that your DD's are TOO CUTE!!
I also had reservations about putting our children's pictures on the Internet, but now that they are both adults (22 and 18), I finally got over that! They've posted themselves all over Facebook anyway.

Keep in touch - I'd love to cruise with you on the 2014 EBTA! Hope it works out!

Thanks for the compliments about my kiddos!

We really wanna do the EBTA I'll know for sure later on this year.

 

[petals]

joining in. I will be back to read.

 

[nirrakel]

Really loved your trip report, thanks for taking the time to write it

 

[linetbo]

Day 10 -- Villefranche (Monaco, Monte Carlo, Eze & Palo)

As I stated in the Med Planning thread, we enjoyed each other's company on this day but our excursion group had a rough time with our "guide." We specifically took a DCL excursion in the 1st Port to avoid having to plan anything at all since our entire trip was logistically complicated. The DCL excursions were meant to give my SIL and I a break from making "real" decisions during the planning phase.

Rather than repeating the unpleasantries relating to the guide, suffice it to say that the guide was rather un-Disney. The rain did not affect our mood, but did affect our time in Eze. I was the only one in my family to get off at Eze and knowing their personalities, Eze would have been their favorite stop. With all the disclaimers out of the way, here we go on the itinerary.

Going away from the ship during tender:



Tender boat:



1st Stop, Monaco:





The tour of the Monaco Palace was self-guided, and it took perhaps 20-30 minutes. We had about 75 minutes of free time in the main square. We passed the time by taking pictures of the cannonballs, scenery, and having a crepe. It was the first time in a long time that I got to speak French and it was fun to pick it up again! Kinda like riding a bike!





The guide gave everyone the wrong info on where to meet up and so we were a bit late getting to the bus (by about 5 min). 3 people from our excursion group were left behind.

2nd Stop, Monte Carlo:
The bus followed part of the Grand Prix route to Monte Carlo, and we walked up a steep hill to the Casino. It was drizzling at this point, but the rain started down harder once we got to the top. There isn't much to see up at the Casino so most people huddled by a shop to avoid the rain. When the meeting time came, everyone walked down. It was pouring at this point. DD fell asleep hard in her stroller and like a princess, my DH and my brother carried her stroller down the steps. Bravo to them! Good thing we brought the stroller rain shield.




3rd Stop, Eze:
By the time we got to Eze, it was pouring very heavily. I would say that only 7 people from our entire bus got off at Eze. Eze was the stop that I was looking forward to the most, and so I got off by myself and followed the group up the stairs. Eze was lovely. I could have spent half-a-day here going through the nooks and crannies. It was a pity that Monaco was so boring and we had 75 minutes there. I wish that we got more free time here instead. The entire place was like a fairytale.







Palo
PB&J have never been to Palo since they had only cruised on the Dream (they went to Remy instead). It was kismet that Palo was scheduled for this night since we all had such a rough day. It was nice to wash the rain out of my hair and to go to such a relaxing atmosphere in Palo while we pulled out of Port. Baby Ems went into the nursery (where she napped the whole time) and DD went with my parents to Lumiere's. PB&J, my aunt, DH and I headed to Palo for an excellent meal. Andrea from Italy was our charming waiter. He was great. The food tasted exceptional after a day in the cold. Pics of our meal:









I joined my parents and DD in Lumiere's after Palo to make sure DD had eaten her dinner. We picked up Baby Ems and turned in for the night. Our group was splitting up for La Spezia, and we were excited do a "bigger" Port for the next day.

So, that tour is not fully guided?

 

[lilpooh108]

So, that tour is not fully guided?

No, it's not. There's 75 minutes of "free time" after the Palace tour (which itself takes only 20 minutes, and is audio- guided by a prerecording). Then the walk up to the Monte Carlo is not guided, and there is a brief optional 5-8 minute explanation of the Casino area and another 45 minutes of "free" time.

It's alot of time to stand around, but not really enough time to explore. I'd skip this tour and get a private guide or choose another excursion.

 

[JCinMN]

Wow, what a great trip report! Very balanced and you covered the negatives fairly. Your photos are fantastic! Kudos to you and your DH for the nice compositions and great shots. Thanks for sharing. I love living vicariously through other's trips when I am unable to go someplace now. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

 

[lilpooh108]

Wow, what a great trip report! Very balanced and you covered the negatives fairly. Your photos are fantastic! Kudos to you and your DH for the nice compositions and great shots. Thanks for sharing. I love living vicariously through other's trips when I am unable to go someplace now. Thanks for taking the time to write it.

What nice compliments! Thank you so much

 

[Ellester]

So enjoyed your report! The Med is a secret wish of mine. We have 4 kids so the airfare and two rooms are extra pricey, but maybe someday. For now I can enjoy it vicariously through great reports like this one!

 

[WishingMom]

Out of curiosity, did you happen to notice the price of the artwork in Positano? Your trip report is wonderful, thank you for sharing!

 

[lilpooh108]

Out of curiosity, did you happen to notice the price of the artwork in Positano? Your trip report is wonderful, thank you for sharing!

I did not I actually realy really wanted to buy one, but we were really short on time.

I do remember that these were "prints" and not original artwork, so that the price posted wasn't unreasonable. I'd say less than 50 Euros? Probably even less than that. They were beautiful though, and there were a few stores that sold them. The stores with actual storefronts probably had the nicer ones. The man with the stand had prints that looked a little more "worn."

I did end up buying some ceramic knick knacks that were nice, and probably around 12 Euro each. The shopping is really fun there. Make sure you carve some time out for that