June 18, 2011 - 11 Night Mediterranean Sailing from Barcelona

[2PrincesseInTow]

Thanks Allison for your great list, I notice there's a few other cruisers with 10 yr old DDs. Last cruise my DD emailed similiarly aged DDs for a few months before the cruise & it made it really easy when they finally met up on the cruise. So those with DDs around 10, pls let me know if you are interested in this idea.

My DD (9, turning 10 in July) would love to. Our last cruise she had her cousin with her so she's a little worried about going to the Lab alone.

Sara

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

My DD (9, turning 10 in July) would love to. Our last cruise she had her cousin with her so she's a little worried about going to the Lab alone.

Sara

My dd would also be interested in e-mailing the girls on the trip! She will be turning 9 in May!

 

[jns]

May 31st sounds great to me.

A DIS meet before the drill sounds great also.

I think the 31st of Mays sounds good too
everyone OK with this
and a met before the drill
anyone know what time is sail away

Here is an amazing trip report done by a fellow DISboarder on last Summer's Med. Cruise. It's very long, so make sure you have some time to view it. This will really make you excited for our upcoming adventure. Hope the link works:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2485312

Have fun!

Thanks for the link

Jns, pls add us to the FE list. We participated last cruise & it was a real highlight for the kids.

Thanks,
Rach

Will do

I'm sure I will have more questions as I continue to plan for this trip! Thank you!

Welcome aboard and welcome to the boards you will find all the answers to your question here

 

[jns]

FE=fish extender gifts
Outside each cabin is a fish clip that staff will clip announcements etc. You can find pics of them easily on here if you search. If you have joined a sail group for the date you are cruising a lot of times they have FE gift exchange. You make a mailbox that loops over the FE and they put gifts in it. can be bought on ebay...worth every penny or make your own . A lot of people will put in gifts that represent where they are from or have some relationship with the ship you are on. You will find lots of ideas on these boards. Some deliver one nicer gift and some deliver lots of little gifts. It is SO fun to come back to the cabin and see things have been delivered to your room.

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.

Ok here is the FE list so far 20 staterooms


JNS ~ GTY # Jackie, Michael -adults, DS12 Micheal
2PrincessInTow ~ 8076 # Mark & Sara -adults, Mary (9), Grace (5)
2PrincessInTow ~ 6644 # Beatrice & Sarah -adults
hygienist999 ~ 6103 # (Allison-40), DH(Roddy-50), DD(Meghan-21), DS(Austin-19)
Jmatias ~ 5522 # Jen, DH, - adults ,DS(15), DS(13), DD(7);
Docswatson~ 8602 # Amy, John, - Adults DD Anna ( 10) and DS Andrew (8)
MadHatterMom2 ~ 5001 # Julie, DH -adults, DD Anneliese (12) & DS Alex (8).
CaliforniaGirl09 ~ GTY # Monica, Dave -adults , Reid (DS 14) and Maxine (DD11)
rach7 ~ 6116 # Rach, Cam,-adults, DD(10), DS(5),
lrsuffi
aroundtheriverbend ~ 6542 # Allison, Dave-adults, River (boy, 7), Winter (girl, 5)
scubabonk ~ GTY# Bonnie,(38), DH, Benny, (42), DD, Sarah, (12), DD, Ashley, (9).
ch10dad
sistersville ~ 2140 # Erin, Dane, son (10), daughter (5), son(1). sitter traveling with us 19
skeegan ~ GTY # Susan, DH, DD Katie (16).
Bella81903 ~ 2633 # Curtis, Monique - adults, Mia (girl) 4
stampinot~ GtY # Jerold and Julie-adults DD Samantha 8, DD Brittanie 17
Carolinagirls ,DH, DD (11) and DS (10)
ERDocG ~ 8528 # Tim, Wendy, -adults ,DS10 Jacob, DS8 Samuel
ABLemon ~ GTY #David, Anita -adults ,Alyssa DD 8

Cut off date 22nd May to sign up to be part of the exchange

Think its up to us as a group to decide how we will do the exchange
Ideas so far
1) One gift per stateroom ,but some extra goodies for kids
2) To keep it to small groups
3) To pick a date to deliver the gifts . That way, the gifts are spaced out over the course of the cruise

Please let me know if I miss anyone looking to join in the exchange

Check this thread out some great gift ideas here


anyone else like to share photos from your FE

here is some of the things we got from our Halloween Cruise

Our Fish Extender

 

[sistersville]

FYI - If anyone collects Coke Rewards points they have a cute paper Disney Cruise ship you can assemble as a printable download for 1 point. Thought I'd make a few to surprise the kids.

mycokerewards.com

Amy

Thank you! I found the printables- they are very cute. We have just started preparing our kids for the trip and checked out some good books from the library today. For those of you with children, here are some of the titles:

"Madeline and the Cats of Rome" (VERY cute with lots of nice illustrations of Rome for younger children), "Spend the Day in Ancient Rome- Projects and Activities that bring the Past to Life" (neat projects and lots of information in a kid friendly format), "The Kingfisher Atlas of the Ancient World", "The Sistine Chapel" by Renee C. Rebman, "Rome in Spectacular Cross- Section" by Stephen Biesty, "Ancient Rome" by Peter Connolly, "G is for Gladiator, an Ancient Rome Alphabet" and also "C is for Ciao, an Italy Alphabet".
There are also a couple of Magic Tree House books set in Italy- one is about Pompeii, and the other is about Florence and Leonado Da Vinci. My 10 year old son is fascinatated with Pompeii and I found a book, " Bodies from the Ash, Life and Death in Ancient Pompeii" that he really likes, but will be too graphic for younger ones. He can handle it, but if you check it out, make sure you look through it. It is very interesting for adults, too!

We are focusing on Italy at the moment and then will look at the other locations- will let you know any books we find!

Thanks for the answers to our questions so far.

 

[hygienist999]

Updated List

update

 

[lrsuffi]

Our family of four will be on our first ever cruise, leaving Barcelona on June 18, 2011 onboard the Magic ! We've been to Europe & North Africa before..but never on a cruise, so we are really looking forward to it !


It'll be myself, my husband, our 7 y/o daughter and our 17 y/o niece ...can't wait to meet everyone !

Take care,
Laura Suffi

 

[lrsuffi]

Could you add us to the Fish Extenders Group too? I am travelling with my husband, & y/o daughter and 17 y/o niece ...and i think that they would love to take part in something like this ( this is our first cruise).

TTFN,
Laura Suffi

 

[lrsuffi]

Could you add us to the Fish Extenders Group too? I am travelling with my husband, & y/o daughter and 17 y/o niece ...and i think that they would love to take part in something like this ( this is our first cruise).

TTFN,
Laura Suffi

 

[jns]

Could you add us to the Fish Extenders Group too? I am travelling with my husband, & y/o daughter and 17 y/o niece ...and i think that they would love to take part in something like this ( this is our first cruise).

TTFN,
Laura Suffi

OK added you to the list and Welcome aboard

 

[MadHatterMom2]

Hi JNS - I have one correction for the FE list. You have me listed twice, but we have only one cabin/family of four: me (Julie), DH, DD (12 at sailing) & DS (8). If I went with my MIL, I'd have to kill myself

Thanks!

 

[Docswatson]

My DD (9, turning 10 in July) would love to. Our last cruise she had her cousin with her so she's a little worried about going to the Lab alone.

Sara

I think my daughter would like to email as well. Looks as if there will be a good number of girls their age!

 

[jns]

Hi JNS - I have one correction for the FE list. You have me listed twice, but we have only one cabin/family of four: me (Julie), DH, DD (12 at sailing) & DS (8). If I went with my MIL, I'd have to kill myself

Thanks!

Sorry couldn't have you doing that

must check back and see who asked to add there MIL to the list

 

[hygienist999]

Updated List

Welcome Irsuffi, so glad to have you join us. Look at my list and you can get to know some of your fellow cruisers.

Allison

 

[2PrincesseInTow]

Hi JNS - I have one correction for the FE list. You have me listed twice, but we have only one cabin/family of four: me (Julie), DH, DD (12 at sailing) & DS (8). If I went with my MIL, I'd have to kill myself

Thanks!

Yes, it's me that's bringing my MIL.... I keep telling my husband how wonderful I am for including her. I hope I don't end up regretting it! Good news is that she's on Deck 6 and we're on Deck 8.

 

[jns]

Just spent a very cold wet windly day reading this report from last years med cruise
lots of info and photos plus some of the navigators too
enjoy if you have time
http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=2462925

 

[*WDW*Groupie*]

Woohooo!! Just heard from DCL they
Cancelled Tunis and are adding Palermo, Italy!!!!

So excited about this change!!

 

[jns]

Woohooo!! Just heard from DCL they
Cancelled Tunis and are adding Palermo, Italy!!!!

So excited about this change!!

so my DS has just told me
been checking prices too
GTY rooms have been discounted

 

[goofydadeo]

so my DS has just told me
been checking prices too
GTY rooms have been discounted

Yes it's true - GTY oceanview are now like $300 less that my reservation's original price for an inside cat 11B stateroom! Only catch is you have to pay in full when you reserve and no refunds are allowed. I am thinking about it very seriously - why not get an upgrade and pay less???

Also VERY excited about Palermo!!!

 

[2PrincesseInTow]

Posted 06-29-2007, 04:33 PM * #41
By Doingitagain

Today was Palermo, Sicily. What a beautiful area! We docked about 7:00 a.m. We ordered from room service last evening so we could get an early breakfast at 7:15 because our shore excursion left at 7:45. One advantage of concierge is that you can order a hot breakfast.

There were three buses on the Erice and Segesta excursion. We spent the whole day with our one bus. It really did not feel crowded at all. Let me start by telling you we all really liked this excursion. It was what we wanted…we saw a little bit of a lot of areas in Sicily and the tour moved quickly without a lot of waiting.

Luca was our guide and he spoke excellent English. We drove for an hour to get to Segesta. Luca talked about Sicily almost the entire drive. It was very interesting. And the countryside is so beautiful!

Segesta had a temple and some ruins. That doesn’t do it justice…just know that it is very interesting and beautiful. Luca provided a lot of information. I don’t think the tour would have been nearly as good if we didn’t have a guide providing information.

We drove to Trapani and took a cable car up the mountain to a medieval village called Erice. It was fantastic! Erice is a walled city with stone buildings, what I envision when I think of Europe and older cities. The Catholic church was very beautiful. Our guide also provided some good information to make it more interesting. We had about twenty minutes to walk around the city on our own. Narrow stone roads, a bit difficult to navigate. Again, wear practical shoes!

We took the bus back down the mountain, winding back and forth. The view was gorgeous, the best of the day.

We stopped at a hotel restaurant…a large room with a lot of windows facing the Mediterranean. They had wine and bottled water for each table. The first course was pasta with tomato sauce which was pretty good. The next course was baked potatoes and some sort of stuff meat (which I did not care for). The last course was an almond ice cream something or other. It was a nice end to our trip and we had a nice visit with the other DCL guests at our table.

The drive back to this ship took us through some beautiful countryside again.

We drove through Palermo on our way out and back. It is a big city, and not nearly as clean as Barcelona. I am glad we were able to see the countryside in Sicily rather than just walking around Palermo. It is so beautiful.

For those considering this excursion, we recommend it. There is a lot of walking and climbing up hills and stone surfaces (wear practical shoes!). DCL has it listed as “moderate” and recommended for ages over 5. Don’t bring young children, I don’t think the few on our bus really got much out of it. There is no way to use a stroller anywhere on the excursion. And if you are the type to use the elevator to go up two flights of stairs, skip this excursion. Don’t shy away from it, I am not in super shape and I have asthma…but I did just fine.