June 27, 2013 - Magic in the Med (Venice)

[nzdisneymom]

That's wonderful that you're able to book with your frequent flyer miles.

Yesterday Delta had $1,444 and today it's back to $1,406.

 

[lgajohnson]

For those of you who have done DCL Med cruises before, what time is a good time for a return flight? Right now I am looking at 12:30 on the day we get back to port. I think that will work but I am just double checking with all of the "experts"

I am planning on leaving Barcelona that day because we are spending 5 days in the city before and need to get back home.

 

[Angie_Ohio]

You should have plenty of time. I think we had the same time or even earlier last summer. There are plenty of taxis waiting at the port. Disney queues everyone into a covered waiting area. Each family is taken in the order of the line. Very smooth with moderate waiting. There were various sized taxis as well to accommodate extra luggage or larger families.

 

[shoes99]

I used Matrix, ITAsoftware to check for my travel dates today.
June 26 to July 8th, 2013 from EWR (Newark NJ).
United has one nonstop per day and today the price is $1700 per person.
I've got air on hold with DCL and they are charging $1568 per person.
What happens to my air if flight flucuates between now and June. Will DCL
notify me if my $1568 goes way up?

 

[nzdisneymom]

I used Matrix, ITAsoftware to check for my travel dates today.
June 26 to July 8th, 2013 from EWR (Newark NJ).
United has one nonstop per day and today the price is $1700 per person.
I've got air on hold with DCL and they are charging $1568 per person.
What happens to my air if flight flucuates between now and June. Will DCL
notify me if my $1568 goes way up?

My understanding is that DCL will not change the flight prices... they certanily don't if the price for the same flight is less!
Our cruise returns to Barcelona on July 9th so be sure you're checking for that date once it's available to check.

 

[shoes99]

My understanding is that DCL will not change the flight prices... they certanily don't if the price for the same flight is less!
Our cruise returns to Barcelona on July 9th so be sure you're checking for that date once it's available to check.

Thanks on the matrix site the latest date I could look at for return was only July 8th. I'm using this as a tool to compare prices once all our dates are available.

 

[jel0511]

I booked my air today!!! 1014 pp on us air out of PHL. Not bad IMO. I'm happy!!!!!!

 

[lgajohnson]

We booked ours too!! Lufthansa out of Boston...used our frequent flier miles for all three of us!! That certainly helps our excursion budget!! One more thing off the planning list. Now where to stay...hmm!

Does anybody know of any reputable and reasonably priced transfer companies? Airport to hotel, hotel to port and then port to airport.

Thanks!

 

[gydell]

We are waiting for the price of our flights to come down some(hopefully) so we can book.

 

[MrsScooby]

We have taken a few direct flights out of JFK. They usually leave about 7:30 or so and arrive 7o a.m. local time Barcelona. Our problem is we arrive in JFK @ 10:30 a.m. so a full day hanging out in an airport. I also know Phillie has direct flights (U S Air I thought) or at least they used to. We have already booked our transfers and hotel through Disney so the last time we were picked up at the airport and were lucky to get into our room early to "freshin' up". Still too early to book airfare for us yet but mid August I am told they will start booking. Hold on to your wallets...or purses which ever applies.

We found a great deal (something like $850) for a one-stop round trip flight to Barcelona, but the one stop was also for 10 hours
So yeah waiting around the airport for 10 hours just wasn't going to work...

I may be changing to the 7 night and I am a little sad.

My friend and her son are unable to get a price even close to ours so they wouldn't be able to go. I am willing to change my dates if it means we can vacation together. Waiting to see.

I really wanted to visit Venice but I threw my coin in the Trevi fountain in June last summer and I am going back next summer so maybe it will happen again.



I will be lurking on both meets until I know for sure.

It is fun to vacation with friends... sorry they weren't able to get a good enough price for the Med.

Cruising with close friends is a blast so I can understand too.

For those of you who have done DCL Med cruises before, what time is a good time for a return flight? Right now I am looking at 12:30 on the day we get back to port. I think that will work but I am just double checking with all of the "experts"

I am planning on leaving Barcelona that day because we are spending 5 days in the city before and need to get back home.

Well haven't cruised the Med before, but I have read that DCL is very good about getting passengers off the ship in time for early flights.
We found a flight that left Barcelona at 10 am which looked like a pretty good deal so we are considering staying one night after the cruise (at Hesperia Tower) so we are not rushed and can make it.
Mixed reviews on Hesperiahttp://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187497-d630596-Reviews-Hesperia_Tower-Barcelona_Catalonia.html

Anyone else considering staying there

 

[MrsScooby]

I booked my air today!!! 1014 pp on us air out of PHL. Not bad IMO. I'm happy!!!!!!

We booked ours too!! Lufthansa out of Boston...used our frequent flier miles for all three of us!! That certainly helps our excursion budget!! One more thing off the planning list. Now where to stay...hmm!

Does anybody know of any reputable and reasonably priced transfer companies? Airport to hotel, hotel to port and then port to airport.

Thanks!

We are waiting for the price of our flights to come down some(hopefully) so we can book.

Oh I am jealous!! Great price for tickets and I wish we had that many frequent flyer miles
Also waiting to see how prices go for us. I think the best we saw (that works for us) was around 1150 pp out of JFK.

I did book a hotel for one night before cruise at http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187497-d1482943-Reviews-Hotel_Praktik_Rambla-Barcelona_Catalonia.html
It's refundable so I can change it if needed.

 

[jel0511]

Oh I am jealous!! Great price for tickets and I wish we had that many frequent flyer miles
Also waiting to see how prices go for us. I think the best we saw (that works for us) was around 1150 pp out of JFK.

I did book a hotel for one night before cruise at http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187497-d1482943-Reviews-Hotel_Praktik_Rambla-Barcelona_Catalonia.html
It's refundable so I can change it if needed.

The cheapest I saw out of JFK was 1350 and I've been watching for the past month. We have a free ticket on Delta, but US Air was actually cheaper for 4 tickets than 3 + the free one on Delta. PHL is also a little closer for us than JFK and easier to get to also. Driving to JFK from NJ is a nightmare!!!!

 

[elm95376]

We found a great deal (something like $850) for a one-stop round trip flight to Barcelona, but the one stop was also for 10 hours
So yeah waiting around the airport for 10 hours just wasn't going to work...




Cruising with close friends is a blast so I can understand too.



Well haven't cruised the Med before, but I have read that DCL is very good about getting passengers off the ship in time for early flights.
We found a flight that left Barcelona at 10 am which looked like a pretty good deal so we are considering staying one night after the cruise (at Hesperia Tower) so we are not rushed and can make it.


Anyone else considering staying there

Hi Laurie, I also have been looking at flights and the ones I like seem to leave Barcelona at 10am. I'm concerned the time is too early to be sure to catch it in time. I hope to book my flight within the next couple of weeks. The problem I am having for hotels is there are a total of 6 of us so I'll need two rooms with 3 in each. We will stay a couple of nights pre-cruise and maybe one night post-cruise. The flights I have seen from San Francisco are about $1350 per person with 1 stop.

Janet...

 

[MrsScooby]

The cheapest I saw out of JFK was 1350 and I've been watching for the past month. We have a free ticket on Delta, but US Air was actually cheaper for 4 tickets than 3 + the free one on Delta. PHL is also a little closer for us than JFK and easier to get to also. Driving to JFK from NJ is a nightmare!!!!

The only reason we are considering JFK is because my DMiL lives in NY and she can watch our dog for us while we are gone. That saves us approx. $400 in boarding fees alone. I wouldn't want to drive that far otherwise.

Hi Laurie, I also have been looking at flights and the ones I like seem to leave Barcelona at 10am. I'm concerned the time is too early to be sure to catch it in time. I hope to book my flight within the next couple of weeks. The problem I am having for hotels is there are a total of 6 of us so I'll need two rooms with 3 in each. We will stay a couple of nights pre-cruise and maybe one night post-cruise. The flights I have seen from San Francisco are about $1350 per person with 1 stop.

Janet...

Yes, we wouldn't consider the 10 am flights out of Barcelona unless we stayed overnight after the cruise.
The Hesperia Tower is close to the airport and pretty inexpensive. Most people seem to have a problem (according to Tripadvisor reviews) with the distance from the city even with the metro nearby. My DH just navigated through the Paris metro with no problem so he is thinking we should do this to save money.
The hotel I booked before the cruise (Praktik Rambla) does have rooms for 3 people and the price is reasonable. We got 2 rooms for 4 people for 286 euros per night total for both rooms.

Yeah, coming from San Francisco you have a long flight. That's like what flying to Hawaii is like for us.

 

[LyndaC]

I thought that with 110,000 miles on British Air that I had enough for flights for 2 of us. Unfortunately, BA is telling me that even this far out, there are no award flights available.
Airfare for 4 from San Francisco is going to be a killer.

 

[jel0511]

Hi Laurie, I also have been looking at flights and the ones I like seem to leave Barcelona at 10am. I'm concerned the time is too early to be sure to catch it in time. I hope to book my flight within the next couple of weeks. The problem I am having for hotels is there are a total of 6 of us so I'll need two rooms with 3 in each. We will stay a couple of nights pre-cruise and maybe one night post-cruise. The flights I have seen from San Francisco are about $1350 per person with 1 stop.

Janet...

Our flight home leaves at 10:45, but we're flying home on the 10th. Our last Med cruise we choose to stay that day as well, since we didn't want to rush to the airport right after a 10 night cruise. It was the BEST decision, really made the last day less stressful. We need 2 rooms as we're 4, but IMO it's $400 well spent.

 

[MrsScooby]

I thought that with 110,000 miles on British Air that I had enough for flights for 2 of us. Unfortunately, BA is telling me that even this far out, there are no award flights available.
Airfare for 4 from San Francisco is going to be a killer.

Yeah the airfare is the reason a bunch of my DIS friends can't make this cruise.

Our flight home leaves at 10:45, but we're flying home on the 10th. Our last Med cruise we choose to stay that day as well, since we didn't want to rush to the airport right after a 10 night cruise. It was the BEST decision, really made the last day less stressful. We need 2 rooms as we're 4, but IMO it's $400 well spent.

My DH was insistent that he wanted to fly out the same day we disembarked (that's what we did for our baltic cruise), but when he realized that we missed out on the 10 am flight options (which were cheaper) he changed his mind. Plus I like having a day after the cruise to see the sites without jetlag

 

[MrsScooby]

Just throwing this out there to see who else is interested...

On our Baltic cruise in 2010, we found it was easier to deal with jetlag the first day pre-cruise when we had DIS friends to meet up with for dinner...

Just so much easier to stay awake when you have others to chat about plans

So the day before the cruise we hope to see the Sagrada Familia at least, maybe some shopping, anything else low key and close by and an early dinner (well early by European standards).

Anyone else interested???
My kids will be 19 (DS-Andrew, gamer fanatic) and 16 (DD-Kelly, guitar, softball and animae fanatic) so would be great if they could meet up with others the same age before the cruise.

 

[gydell]

Just throwing this out there to see who else is interested...

On our Baltic cruise in 2010, we found it was easier to deal with jetlag the first day pre-cruise when we had DIS friends to meet up with for dinner...

Just so much easier to stay awake when you have others to chat about plans

So the day before the cruise we hope to see the Sagrada Familia at least, maybe some shopping, anything else low key and close by and an early dinner (well early by European standards).

Anyone else interested???
My kids will be 19 (DS-Andrew, gamer fanatic) and 16 (DD-Kelly, guitar, softball and animae fanatic) so would be great if they could meet up with others the same age before the cruise.

We will meet you if you want. We are coming in on the 25th. Anyone there then?

 

[elm95376]

The only reason we are considering JFK is because my DMiL lives in NY and she can watch our dog for us while we are gone. That saves us approx. $400 in boarding fees alone. I wouldn't want to drive that far otherwise.



Yes, we wouldn't consider the 10 am flights out of Barcelona unless we stayed overnight after the cruise.
The Hesperia Tower is close to the airport and pretty inexpensive. Most people seem to have a problem (according to Tripadvisor reviews) with the distance from the city even with the metro nearby. My DH just navigated through the Paris metro with no problem so he is thinking we should do this to save money.
The hotel I booked before the cruise (Praktik Rambla) does have rooms for 3 people and the price is reasonable. We got 2 rooms for 4 people for 286 euros per night total for both rooms.

Yeah, coming from San Francisco you have a long flight. That's like what flying to Hawaii is like for us.

Thanks Laurie for the information. It helps to hear from people who have done this before. I will be talking to my travel agent next week and will not book a 10am flight for the same day we disembark.

Janet