June 18, 2011 - 11 Night Mediterranean Sailing from Barcelona

[ctldavis]

Hi Everyone!

This is our FIRST ever Disney cruise and I can't believe that I convinced my husband to take one. After a not so good cruise on another line, he swore never again. My dd8 is so excited and has no clue how much fun this will be.

Please add us to your list of FE people. We don't have an assigned cabin yet but I can let you know as soon as I know. We are also celebrating our anniversary too!

We live in the New Orleans area.

David
Anita
Alyssa

Welcome Aboard.... This is also our first Disney Cruise... and I can't believe it is less than a month away.

 

[aricau]

My husband and I will be on the 6/18 cruise from Barcelona. We're celebrating our 37th anniversary on this cruise. It's our first trip to Europe and we're getting really excited. We're arriving on Thursday 6/16 and staying at the Hilton Diagonal Mar. We're also staying over an extra night after the cruise. We have our cabin # because we're DVC members. We're in cabin # 7510.

Forgot to say we're from Baton Rouge LA and we're flying through Atlanta to BCN.

 

[hygienist999]

Since our cruise isn't too far off, I thought I would put together a list of our cruisers. Its hard to keep track as more people come online. We can add to this list as time goes on.

Also, many have mentioned an interest in the FE exchange. I would love to do this also. I guess we need to find out who would be interested.

If I have anyone's information wrong please let me know, I tried to copy from the past posts.

1) Goofydadeo - DH (John), DW, DS(17), DD(13); from Raleigh, NC; cat 11B cabin; staying at Hilton Diagonal Mar; late seating for dinner

2) lornak - DW(Lorna), DH, DW's sister and brother-in-law will also be going; from Northern MN; GTY cat 11 cabin; staying at Novetel

3) JulieWent - DW(Julie-50), DH, DS(Austin-15); cat 5B cabin; staying at CASP74; early seating for dinner

4) Calfan - DW, DH(44), DD(8.5), DS(6.5); from California; cat 5A cabin, staying at CASP74; late seating for dinner

6) CaliforniaGirl09 - DW, DH, DS(14), DD(11), staying at CASP74; late seating for dinner, two GTY, YES to FE

7) pegthelawyer - Peggy(45), Walt(51), DD(Katie-20), DS(Jamie-18), DD(Annie-16); from Northern California

8) aroundthebend- DW(Allison), DH(Dave), DS(River-7), DD(Winter-5); early seating for dinner; YES to FE Exchange; Cabin #6542

9) jmatias - DW(Jen-41), DH(45), DS(15), DS(13), DD(7); SPH 5522 & 5524 cabins; from Hawaii, staying at CASP74; YES to FE Exchange

10) ctldavis - DW, DH, DD(15); from Charlotte, NC; Late seating

11) 2PrincessInTow - DW(Sara), DH(Mark), DD(9.75-Mary), DD(Grace-5), #8076; MIL(Bea), DSD(Sarah-24), #6644; early seating for dinner; YES to FE, but will have two cabins; Staying at Meridian

12) MadHatterMom2 - DW(Julie), DH, DD12(Anneliese), DS8(Alex); from California; staying at CASP74; YES to FE Exchange; Cabin #5001; Early seating

13) Astallings - 5 Adults, 3 DD's, 3 DS's.

14) Angie_Ohio - Angie, DS(Alec -16), Angie's parents.

15) FloridaKings

16) MacG - DW(Kim), DH, DD(6), DD(8); from Montgomery County, MD

17) *WDW*Groupie* - DS(19), DD(9); will be doing the ABD, early seating for dinner; staying at Meridian,

18) newmommie77 - DW, DH, DS(12), DD(6)

19) rach7 -DW(Rach), DH(Cam), DD(10), DS(5), from Brisbane, Australia; staying at CASP74, YES to FE, Cabin #6116

20) jns - DW(Jackie), DH(Michael), DS12(Michael), from Donegal, Ireland; YES for FE exchange; GTY; Late seating

21) DocsWatson - DW(46), DH50(John), DD10(Anna), DS8(Andrew); from New Hampshire; Late seating for dinner; staying at le Meridian pre-cruise; doing the ABD; YES to FE Exchange

22) Hygienist999 - me(Allison-40), DH(Roddy-50), DD(Meghan-21), DS(Austin-19); from Dublin, GA; staying at Marriott at the Airport in Barcelona; late seating for dinner; YES to FE Exchange; Two cabins-using only 1 for FE.

23) wen_tom - DW(Wendy-32), DH(Steve-32); from the UK(Yorkshire)

24) scubabonk - DH42(Benny), DW38(Bonnie), DD12(Sarah), DD9(Ashley); YES to FE Exchange; GTY

25) sistersville - DW(Erin), DH(Dane), DS(10), DD(5), DS(14months), Nanny, Cabin #2140 & #2138; YES to FE

26) Irsuffi - DW(Laura), DH, DD(7), DNiece(17); YES to FE Exchange.

27) MaKalee - DW(38), DH(35), DD(13), DS(5)

28) Shruti - from California, DW(40), DH(40), DS(10); staying at The W

29) ga9497 - DW, DH, DD(16), DS(14)

30) klynch - DW, DH, DS(11), DD(13); from Philadelphia

31) anniedj - DW, DH, DS(15), DS(13); from Raleigh, NC; Staying at Novotel

32) ch10dad - DH(Ray), DW(Laura), DD(Jessica-15), DD(Sarah-11); YES to FE Exchange.

33) lmb - DW, DH, DD(6), DS(4),DW's Mother

34) carolinagirls - DW, DH, DS(10), DD(11)

35) DisneySailing - DH, DW

36) Skeegan - DW(Susan), DH, DD16(Katie); YES to FE; Late seating; GTY

37) Didney Daddy - DW, DH, DD(16)

38) Lyrah - DW(Charyl Lee), DH(Jeff), DD15(Paige), DD12(Jade)

39) Carolinaski - DW, DH, DS(8), DD(10)

40) Bella81903 - DW30(Monique), DH(Curtis), DD4(Mia); YES to FE; Cabin #2633

41) stampinot - DW(Julie), DH(Jerold), DD8(Samantha), DD17(Brittanie); Late seating

42) ERDocG - DH47(Tim), DW39(Wendy), DS8(Samuel), DS10(Jacob)

43) Himmin - Charlotte, Charlotte's Fiance, Charlotte's Parents; GTY

44) Lexlaw69 - GTY

45) ABLemon - DH(David), DW(Anita), DD8(Alyssa)

46) aricau - Celebrating their 37th anniversary; Cabin #7510;

jns is in charge of the FE Exchange - Big Thanks.

FE Exchange will have no more than 15 cabins.

Cut off date for the FE Exchange sign up is May 22, 2011.

DIS Meet - 3:30 (before the safety drill), Promenade Lounge located right outside Parrot Cay; Wear lime green name tags (paint chips) which you can get from Home Depot in the paint depart.

June 19th - Formal Night - Sea Day-Father's Day
June 24th - Semi-Formal Night - Sea Day
June 25th - Pirate Night - La Spezia port
June 27th - Semi-Formal Night - Sea Day

Please check to make sure your information is correct.

 

[jns]

Hi Everyone!

This is our FIRST ever Disney cruise and I can't believe that I convinced my husband to take one. After a not so good cruise on another line, he swore never again. My dd8 is so excited and has no clue how much fun this will be.

Please add us to your list of FE people. We don't have an assigned cabin yet but I can let you know as soon as I know. We are also celebrating our anniversary too!
We live in the New Orleans area.
David
Anita
Alyssa DD 8

Welcome aboard and I've added your info to the FE

My husband and I will be on the 6/18 cruise from Barcelona. We're celebrating our 37th anniversary on this cruise. It's our first trip to Europe and we're getting really excited. We're arriving on Thursday 6/16 and staying at the Hilton Diagonal Mar. We're also staying over an extra night after the cruise. We have our cabin # because we're DVC members. We're in cabin # 7510.

Forgot to say we're from Baton Rouge LA and we're flying through Atlanta to BCN.

Welcome aboard

 

[stampinot]

Does anyone know if we can check a case of beer to Barcelona in our carry on luggage? Trying to save money on alcoholic drinks. Any other ideas?

 

[wen-tom]

Does anyone know if we can check a case of beer to Barcelona in our carry on luggage? Trying to save money on alcoholic drinks. Any other ideas?

i've been trying to find this out too

 

[lexlaw69]

i've been trying to find this out too

It won't be a problem....people bring cases of water, soda, I brought several bottles of wine.....You could also just bring a couple of six packs and restock at the various ports - I saw that quite a bit last year.

This year instead of doing the wine package I'm going to buy a bottle or two in each port and sample.

 

[lexlaw69]

Here is my trip report from last year. See you all on June 18th! Feel free to PM me if you have any questions:

In short we LOVED it. Parents with a 2 year old. I couldn't find a (good) answer for this before my cruise so i'll make some recommendations on doing ports yourself. In general I do not recommend the disney tours based upon cost, the time you have to get up to do it, etc. I'm also not a huge museum lover beyond just seeing the highlights (mona lisa yes, all the other stuff not so much) so if you're like me you may find this helpful.

You'll notice that I hired drivers and boy was that great compared to getting in a bus at 7am. We still beat the tours to the destinations in most cases and usually strolled out around 9 or 10. Plus keep in mind that I paid for the entire car and not individually so this might make sense for families.

Last, one good thing about the buses is that if they break down the ship will wait (probably) they will not on a private tour so build in some time for a "just in case" emergency. Also consider taking your passports because if you get left in port - you'll spend a day or two at the embassy getting a copy before you can even attempt to catch up to the ship. (this happened to others on our cruise - bars are fun!).

1) Malta - just get off the boat and their are a million tour options from hop on hop off to taxi's to horse drawn carriage. You can do Malta much cheaper than the Disney option. Also, the horse carriage price is negotiable. Maybe take the taxi to the center of town, and then go from there whether it is to walk around (great), horse carriage (fun), or the ample hop on hop off buses. (10 bucks taxi to top of hill, 40 euro for horse carriage tour and back)

2) Tunisia - I'm from So Cal so Tunisia reminded me of Tiajuana but I had lots of fun. Lots of people did not like it because they couldn't handle the bargaining culture. We got a taxi for 60ish euro's I think. That was for the Medina (the big shopping area) and Sidou Said (the blue city). I loved both, my wife hated the medina (she's from Europe and wasn't comfortable with the bargaining) but we both loved the blue city.

3) Naples - I got a car and driver here while most took buses. For a family of three the cost was comparable. 350 euro. Full day -wherever we wanted to go, whatever we wanted to do. We did the Amalfi coast and the Pompeii. We had a Mercedes van all to ourselves. Despite leaving later than the Disney bus we beat them to the destinations by about 30 minutes and could do what we wanted. We use tour of italy com and they were great. I'd recommend doing your own meal (and be firm here) rather than their family restaurant (it was good enough but I would have enjoyed something else more).

4) Rome - we took the train into town. It was easy. about 20 euros total for all 3 of us compared to over 300 on the disney tour - which was on the same train.

5) Florence - we hired a driver at the port for 300 euro (or was it 250?) anways cheaper than the Disney bus which was 2 hours late due to breakdowns.

6) Corsica - we were going to stay on the boat because we were so tired. AWESOME deli meats and cheese in a small market right outside the ship. The most pleasant suprise of our trip. One of the best and cheapest meals of deli meat, little pizza, fresh bread and cheese. IT WAS GOOOD. So no cost, just walking. The tours from what I hear were OK but we had fun with several hunderd yards of port.

7) Monaco - our only Disney tour. It was OK but I wish we did our own thing. We did the EZE with wine and cheese tasting. It was fun enough but I think I could have gotten a taxi for less.

The Disney Euro cruise is AMAZING - they are offering 7, 10 and 11 day cruises. I'd recommend either the 7 or 11. You miss a day at sea on the 10 day and boy did that day of rest help. Keep in mind in Italy there are some major travel times to get to where you want to go (anywhere from 1 hour to 2 hours). Happy to answer any questions....

 

[lexlaw69]

Hi Everyone!

This is our FIRST ever Disney cruise and I can't believe that I convinced my husband to take one. After a not so good cruise on another line, he swore never again. My dd8 is so excited and has no clue how much fun this will be.

Please add us to your list of FE people. We don't have an assigned cabin yet but I can let you know as soon as I know. We are also celebrating our anniversary too!

We live in the New Orleans area.

David
Anita
Alyssa

I also went on another cruise line (Royal Caribbean) on a bigger ship (Oasis) and I had a good time but it was not nearly the quality of the Disney Cruise. The food is better, no soda package, better staff training (and separate shower and toilet - yay!). I'm sure you'll have a blast. Try to do it "on your own" if possible - you'll save lots of money. I'm happy to give you some pointers if you need them as I went last year.

 

[makaylee]

I also went on this same one last year, so if there is anything lexlaw cannot answer I can take a stab at it. 4 more weeks!!

 

[makaylee]

Hi Everyone!

This is our FIRST ever Disney cruise and I can't believe that I convinced my husband to take one. After a not so good cruise on another line, he swore never again. My dd8 is so excited and has no clue how much fun this will be.

Please add us to your list of FE people. We don't have an assigned cabin yet but I can let you know as soon as I know. We are also celebrating our anniversary too!

We live in the New Orleans area.

David
Anita
Alyssa

Welcome Aboard!

 

[rach7]

Hi everyone, it's sun night here already, so thought I'd better log on and cast my vote for the FE exchange. With 20 cabins I'm happy just to keep it as one big group, last cruise I had 56 cabins to deliver to, so 20 seems a breeeze!

Can't believe it's less than 4 weeks to go...panic button time!

Rach

 

[skeegan]

Good Morning. My vote is to keep it as one group. Went clothes shopping yesterday - not much time to go.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

My vote is split. I'd rather spend more money on fewer cabins.

 

[ERDocG]

I've added you all

we are at 19 staterooms now , Anyone else now's the time to shout out
anyone not about on Sunday you can PM me with r vote or just post here
I'll post results here Monday morning as we are 5 hours ahead of WDW and you will all be still asleep

Our vote would be to have 1 big group

QuestionIs it 1 gift from a room to a room, or multiple gifts from a room to individuals in the other room?

 

[MadHatterMom2]

I vote for keeping one big group, although I'd be happy to split it if that's what everyone else wanted to do.

I know we said one gift for the cabin and smaller ones for the kids, but honestly I found a bunch of smaller stuff that fits my theme better so I think everyone should just feel free to get what they want: one larger, lots of small, mix it up, etc. The point is to have fun with it.

So the cutoff is today and we're at 19 cabins? Works for me!

 

[scubabonk]

I vote for splitting the group.

Not long now!

 

[sistersville]

I am fine with one group.

 

[jns]

I vote for keeping one big group, although I'd be happy to split it if that's what everyone else wanted to do.

I know we said one gift for the cabin and smaller ones for the kids, but honestly I found a bunch of smaller stuff that fits my theme better so I think everyone should just feel free to get what they want: one larger, lots of small, mix it up, etc. The point is to have fun with it.

So the cutoff is today and we're at 19 cabins? Works for me!

Have to totally agree
The point is to have fun with it.

another vote here to keep to one group

20 cabins
any one else
Last chance to join in the fun

 

[stampinot]

We are trying to decide what to do in Palermo. If we do a Disney excursion, which one will you decide on?