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

[MrsScooby]

In 2007 we did the same trip to Sorrento and it still is one of our favorites. In 2010 we did the Sorrento excursion where the kids made pizza in a local restaurant. Our daughter loved it and the local workers they hired were as if they had WDW employees transfered to Italy. Very very kind to the kids.The inlaid wood shop in Sorrento will ship your purchase home for you and we took advantage of this feature (alot). The only thing you should be aware is that you do pay import fees on said item which was $20.00 or so. On our 2009 Royal Carribean trip we went to Capri and it was beautiful to see BUT the trip to the farm for lunch with Sorrento and Pompeii is still the best and we are leaning to re-book this excursion next time.

What kinds of things did they sell at the inlaid wood shop in Sorrento? That sounds very cool

I know we are getting a Venetian Mask in Venice, but wondering what to bring back from the other ports

 

[jel0511]

What kinds of things did they sell at the inlaid wood shop in Sorrento? That sounds very cool

I know we are getting a Venetian Mask in Venice, but wondering what to bring back from the other ports

You name it and they had it. Everything from small music boxes,to large game tables that cost 8k euro!!!! Everything they had was beautiful. I wanted a small table for my foyer but at 1,000 euro DH said it was too much. I'm hoping to pick it up this time!

 

[Lifelong_Dreamer]

That inlaid wood in Sorrento is beautiful. I bought a beautiful jewelry box there when I visited way back in 1999.

 

[carpenta]

What kinds of things did they sell at the inlaid wood shop in Sorrento? That sounds very cool

I know we are getting a Venetian Mask in Venice, but wondering what to bring back from the other ports

The store owner in Sorrento has a brother that runs a store in Shrewsbury Mass. It is called Casa di Sorrento and the web sight is www.casadisorrento.com. It can give...ou to take items back to the ship to consume.

 

[jedipup]

We (Me 42, wife 37, & son 6) booked the cruise several weeks ago, but now got around to looking for the board. I was quite surprised at how quickly the board has grown. We sail on the Magic out of Barcelona in June of 2011, and have been to all the port several times over. If anyone has questions, we would be happy to offer advice regarding the ports of call.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We (Me 42, wife 37, & son 6) booked the cruise several weeks ago, but now got around to looking for the board. I was quite surprised at how quickly the board has grown. We sail on the Magic out of Barcelona in June of 2011, and have been to all the port several times over. If anyone has questions, we would be happy to offer advice regarding the ports of call.

jedipup - welcome to the group! Glad to have y'all with us. We sailed the Med in 2007 with DCL and a few of the ports are the same but obviously there are new ones, too. Have you been to the ports that are on this itinerary that were not on DCL's previously? Those are the ones I am most interested in learning more about! Venice, Malta, Dubrovnik are new for us.

 

[rotary2808]

What kinds of things did they sell at the inlaid wood shop in Sorrento? That sounds very cool

I know we are getting a Venetian Mask in Venice, but wondering what to bring back from the other ports

Be sure to carefully research your Venetian mask. Many of the sellers sell masks that are from China, so you really have to look around to find the authentic ones. I'll have to see if I can find the name of the store we went to on the ABD Viva Italia, their's are authentic Venetian and absolutely gorgeous. With ABD we got to paint and decorate our own which was a lot of fun.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Be sure to carefully research your Venetian mask. Many of the sellers sell masks that are from China, so you really have to look around to find the authentic ones. I'll have to see if I can find the name of the store we went to on the ABD Viva Italia, their's are authentic Venetian and absolutely gorgeous. With ABD we got to paint and decorate our own which was a lot of fun.

Emily - this is a good point - and it reminded me that when we were on the Baltic cruise in 2010, I went to several of the Port Shopping seminars / talks which were really good because the Shopping Expert did some educational portions in addition to pushing the "guaranteed shops" - she told us what things to watch out for (made in China vs. made in Russia) and what little things made a difference in prices of items we might come across. And she talked about how things were made - it was interesting to learn about so much of that and when we got home, I did some reading and found that what she said was true, not just a sales gimmick. So I guess my point is that we should definitely take advantage of the information the Shopping Expert can provide about how to look for authentic items vs. touristy-fake-items.

 

[mjhoward]

Hi mjhoward! Welcome to the Meet Thread and to DISBoards! You'll find a lot of great information here - and keep hanging out with us here and you'll get lots of hints and tips for cruising with DCL! Some of us have cruised in the Med before, too, so we're sharing our previous experiences and memories as we have a long ways to go until it is time to sail! have you cruised before?

I'm Cindy D and will be sailing with my DH and two teenage boys. The first post of the thread has a list of those who are sailing and we'll also be putting announcements there as we schedule things like a Meet and Greet or other activities.

Hi Cindy,
My name is Maxine and I'm sailing with my husband, son 18 and daughter 12.
We have never been on any cruise before, this will be our first ever one and I am a bit apprehensive about all the planning everyone seems to be doing. My son will just be 18 and he is a little worried he'll not meet anyone his own age to hang out with as there is no club. What do the older kids do? My daughter is very shy, will the leaders at the club encourage her to stay?
I have so many questions

 

[mjhoward]

Hi mjhoward! Welcome to the Meet Thread and to DISBoards! You'll find a lot of great information here - and keep hanging out with us here and you'll get lots of hints and tips for cruising with DCL! Some of us have cruised in the Med before, too, so we're sharing our previous experiences and memories as we have a long ways to go until it is time to sail! have you cruised before?

I'm Cindy D and will be sailing with my DH and two teenage boys. The first post of the thread has a list of those who are sailing and we'll also be putting announcements there as we schedule things like a Meet and Greet or other activities.

Hi Cindy,
My name is Maxine and I'm sailing with my husband, son 18 and daughter 12.
We have never been on any cruise before, this will be our first ever one and I am a bit apprehensive about all the planning everyone seems to be doing. My son will just be 18 and he is a little worried he'll not meet anyone his own age to hang out with as there is no club. What do the older kids do? My daughter is very shy, will the leaders at the club encourage her to stay?
I have so many questions

 

[Deb T.]

Hi Cindy,
My name is Maxine and I'm sailing with my husband, son 18 and daughter 12.
We have never been on any cruise before, this will be our first ever one and I am a bit apprehensive about all the planning everyone seems to be doing. My son will just be 18 and he is a little worried he'll not meet anyone his own age to hang out with as there is no club. What do the older kids do? My daughter is very shy, will the leaders at the club encourage her to stay?
I have so many questions

You'll love a Disney cruise! It's a fabulous experience!

For your son, there will be several opportunities for him to meet others in his age group. The ship will have meet and greets for single cruisers and also for the "college" age group.

I think your daughter will be fine. The kid's clubs have a lot of fun activities for her to participate in. Each day, the "Navigator" will list all the different activity choices for her to choose from. Hopefully, she will meet a new friend on the first day that she will enjoy hanging out with in the clubs.

As far as all the planning we're already doing, most of it is just because we're so excited about the trip that we are eager to talk about all the fun we will have! In reality, we really can't even make any reservations until July at the earliest. It might be easier for you to think about planning this cruise in steps:
1st: Decide how many days before and after the cruise you want to be in Barcelona. Most will agree that it's best to arrive at least one day early.
2nd: Make plane reservations
3rd: Make hotel reservations
4th: DCL probably won't publish port excursion options until closer to the cruise, but you can get an idea of what could be offered by reading other cruise planning websites
5th: Once you know what kinds of port excursions are offered, then you can decide whether you'd like to use DCL excursions or book excursions on your own through private vendors

Hope this helps! In the meantime, keep reading this thread for lots of great ideas!

 

[carpenta]

Hi Cindy,
My name is Maxine and I'm sailing with my husband, son 18 and daughter 12.
We have never been on any cruise before, this will be our first ever one and I am a bit apprehensive about all the planning everyone seems to be doing. My son will just be 18 and he is a little worried he'll not meet anyone his own age to hang out with as there is no club. What do the older kids do? My daughter is very shy, will the leaders at the club encourage her to stay?
I have so many questions

Welcome. My daughter is 11yrs. old now and she is not too shy and would welcome the chance to make a friend from accross the pond. We have cruised the Magic in the Med twice before and this being our third. Our daughter probably knows the ship and routines better than us and would welcome the chance to share.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hi Cindy,
My name is Maxine and I'm sailing with my husband, son 18 and daughter 12.
We have never been on any cruise before, this will be our first ever one and I am a bit apprehensive about all the planning everyone seems to be doing. My son will just be 18 and he is a little worried he'll not meet anyone his own age to hang out with as there is no club. What do the older kids do? My daughter is very shy, will the leaders at the club encourage her to stay?
I have so many questions

Hi Maxine! Cruising is a great way to have a "sampling" of parts of the world we might not otherwise get to for a land-based trip. We look at it as a way to decide if the area is somewhere we'd like to come back to. For us, we cruised in the Med in 2007 and absolutely wanted to go back - that's why we're doing our "once in a lifetime" trip all over again

We are actually glad we're sailing this coming year instead of the following as our older son will turn 17 just before this cruise and be between his junior and senior year of school, so he'll have his one last year in the youth program. Will your son have graduated from high school? Or will he be ready for his last year? If he's not yet graduated, there may be an option for him to participate in the youth program - I am pretty sure they let young people stay in as long as they haven't graduated yet.

If you look on the first post of this thread, we have a running list of other DISers and their travel companions so you can see that there are others who have children the same age (or nearly) as your DD. I will say that my boys have always enjoyed the youth programs, and the space for the 12 yr olds on the Magic is great - Ocean Quest is what it has been called although they may be renamed it to be the Edge to be consistent with the Dream and Fantasy. Whatever they call it, the youth counselors have always done a great job in supervising and getting kids involved. Be sure to go with her the first day to "meet and greet" the counselors in the open house time and then have her go to the first night's get-acquainted session. That's when they go over the rules and activities for the week and do some ice breakers.

 

[jel0511]

Hi Maxine! Cruising is a great way to have a "sampling" of parts of the world we might not otherwise get to for a land-based trip. We look at it as a way to decide if the area is somewhere we'd like to come back to. For us, we cruised in the Med in 2007 and absolutely wanted to go back - that's why we're doing our "once in a lifetime" trip all over again

We are actually glad we're sailing this coming year instead of the following as our older son will turn 17 just before this cruise and be between his junior and senior year of school, so he'll have his one last year in the youth program. Will your son have graduated from high school? Or will he be ready for his last year? If he's not yet graduated, there may be an option for him to participate in the youth program - I am pretty sure they let young people stay in as long as they haven't graduated yet.

If you look on the first post of this thread, we have a running list of other DISers and their travel companions so you can see that there are others who have children the same age (or nearly) as your DD. I will say that my boys have always enjoyed the youth programs, and the space for the 12 yr olds on the Magic is great - Ocean Quest is what it has been called although they may be renamed it to be the Edge to be consistent with the Dream and Fantasy. Whatever they call it, the youth counselors have always done a great job in supervising and getting kids involved. Be sure to go with her the first day to "meet and greet" the counselors in the open house time and then have her go to the first night's get-acquainted session. That's when they go over the rules and activities for the week and do some ice breakers.

You're lucky your DS will still be 17, DCL did just redo the rules that stated that as long as you are 18, you're no longer welcome in the children programing, even if you're a sr in HS.

The did rename OQ to the Edge. DD LOVED the Edge, but she'll be 15 so no more Edge for her this trip. DS will be 1 week shy of 11 when we're on the Fantasy Maiden, so he's hoping to move up. With the strictness DCL lately, I"m not 100% sure they'll let him anymore.....

DS will be 12 when we cruise, and I think they're a lot of other kids around the same age on this thread, so you're DD will find plenty of friends!

 

[nzdisneymom]

You're lucky your DS will still be 17, DCL did just redo the rules that stated that as long as you are 18, you're no longer welcome in the children programing, even if you're a sr in HS.

The did rename OQ to the Edge. DD LOVED the Edge, but she'll be 15 so no more Edge for her this trip. DS will be 1 week shy of 11 when we're on the Fantasy Maiden, so he's hoping to move up. With the strictness DCL lately, I"m not 100% sure they'll let him anymore.....

DS will be 12 when we cruise, and I think they're a lot of other kids around the same age on this thread, so you're DD will find plenty of friends!

jel - good to know - I didn't realize that they had redone the rules, but then we haven't had to look at the upper age limit yet. I know on the Wonder last summer, the Edge was 11-13 and the Vibe was 14 - 17 and our boys were 13 3/4 and turning 15 while onboard. We talked with the counselors and they agreed to let Zachary move up to the Vibe so the boys could be together. Zachary was happy because the Edge space on the Wonder was very small and not near as great as it is on the Magic. Also Nathan was not sure he wanted to go to the Vibe - when we sailed in 2010, he was still able to hang out in Ocean Quest plus they had lots of "Out and About" activities that they both enjoyed. He thought the Vibe would be "boring" which a bunch of teenagers who just wanted to listen to music and try to date each other. It turned out that was absolutely not the case - but having Zachary there to hang out with was a nice reassurance for him. Plus the counselors on the Wonder were great and said both boys were well behaved and respectful and considerate - always something you want to hear but especially when they've made an exception for you.

What was interesting is that when we went on the Carnival Dream in December, the tweens group was 12-14s and the teens were 15-17. Zachary was 14 1/4 while Nathan was 15 1/2 but we talked with the counselors and they allowed Nathan to move down to the tween group so he and Zachary could hang together - it was a "trial" and it worked fine. Their space is different than what they have on DCL and I wouldn't have asked to move down on DCL. Nathan is young for his age and several of the 14 y.o. boys looked more mature than he does, so it wasn't an issue. Again, we asked and the youth staff approved it.

 

[Deb T.]

Plus the counselors on the Wonder were great and said both boys were well behaved and respectful and considerate - always something you want to hear but especially when they've made an exception for you.

I'm not surprised the counselors would say that about your boys - they are wonderful! I think it's pretty incredible that we have cruised together twice!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I'm not surprised the counselors would say that about your boys - they are wonderful! I think it's pretty incredible that we have cruised together twice!

Deb - that's so sweet of you to say! They are very excited that you are scheduled to sail with us again.

I just finished reading the French Riviera portion of the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Port book and I'm so excited to be going back there. It was so fun to read about places in Nice that we saw, and also to read about Monte Carlo (which is Spanish for Charles' Hill) and Eze which are both on our short list of places to go while ported at Villefranche. The next section is about Italian ports and I'm about to start reading about Florence!

 

[jel0511]

Deb - that's so sweet of you to say! They are very excited that you are scheduled to sail with us again.

I just finished reading the French Riviera portion of the Rick Steves Mediterranean Cruise Port book and I'm so excited to be going back there. It was so fun to read about places in Nice that we saw, and also to read about Monte Carlo (which is Spanish for Charles' Hill) and Eze which are both on our short list of places to go while ported at Villefranche. The next section is about Italian ports and I'm about to start reading about Florence!

We went both to Monaco and Eze on our Med cruise last year. We also visited Nice for like 5 seconds it seemed like. We also saw Elton's house like a ZILLION times. We took the train ourselves to Monaco and walked up to the casino. We ended eating lunch at the cafe next door. We spent over $100 on two ice cream sundaes, one sandwich and 7 drinks for our party. They were bg sundaes, but it's still a joke between us about our expensive ice cream lunch!!!! We then made our way back to Villefranche and to join our DCL Wine and Cheese and Eze tour. The wine and cheese were interesting and took place in a basement in Nice, across the street from the vineyard owner's shop. It was very informative and fun. After that we got a brief walking tour of the area, then we headed up to Eze. I recommend trying to get to Eze in the morning, because by the time we got there in the afternoon, the whole place was engulfed in fog. The people we also knew on the tour, did the tour in reverse, so they went to Eze first. There were two buses, we just ended up on the unlucky one..... Eze was charming, but due to the fog climbing up to the top to see the supposed AMAZING view was a moot point since you couldn't see anything! I think this time, we might just take the train into Nice on our own and travel around, or head to Cannes.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We went both to Monaco and Eze on our Med cruise last year. We also visited Nice for like 5 seconds it seemed like. We also saw Elton's house like a ZILLION times. We took the train ourselves to Monaco and walked up to the casino. We ended eating lunch at the cafe next door. We spent over $100 on two ice cream sundaes, one sandwich and 7 drinks for our party. They were bg sundaes, but it's still a joke between us about our expensive ice cream lunch!!!! We then made our way back to Villefranche and to join our DCL Wine and Cheese and Eze tour. The wine and cheese were interesting and took place in a basement in Nice, across the street from the vineyard owner's shop. It was very informative and fun. After that we got a brief walking tour of the area, then we headed up to Eze. I recommend trying to get to Eze in the morning, because by the time we got there in the afternoon, the whole place was engulfed in fog. The people we also knew on the tour, did the tour in reverse, so they went to Eze first. There were two buses, we just ended up on the unlucky one..... Eze was charming, but due to the fog climbing up to the top to see the supposed AMAZING view was a moot point since you couldn't see anything! I think this time, we might just take the train into Nice on our own and travel around, or head to Cannes.

Thanks for the tip about the fog at Eze. From reading the book, it seems like getting to Monaco or Eze are both really easy from Villefranche, so we might actually be brave and do something "on our own" while there. We know there will be some ports that we absolutely want to do through the cruiseline but since this area isn't too far from the ship and we have adequate time in port, unless there's an excursion that just wows us, we may save our money here. Of course we'll also consider what costs we'll have for transportation (and avoid the $100 ice cream - LOL).

We loved Nice - it's one of those places that I wish we'd also had a few hours of free time while there after our bus tour. I had told DH when we were there before that if we ever were back in the Villefranche area, there was still so much I wanted to see of the area, so I'm glad we are getting the opportunity to go back.

 

[Cliffside]

Hi Cindy,
My name is Maxine and I'm sailing with my husband, son 18 and daughter 12.
We have never been on any cruise before, this will be our first ever one and I am a bit apprehensive about all the planning everyone seems to be doing. My son will just be 18 and he is a little worried he'll not meet anyone his own age to hang out with as there is no club. What do the older kids do? My daughter is very shy, will the leaders at the club encourage her to stay?
I have so many questions

Welcome Maxine,

This is going to be a great cruise....this will b our 11th dcl cruise and dd will be 13 at time of sailing...sometimes a tween/ teen thread is set up so the kids can talk to one another before hand...

Susan