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

[nzdisneymom]

We're doing the airfare watch so that once we're able to book we'll be ready when the fare hits our price point. DCL wants $1,818 to fly us from ATL, so our price point is under $1,400/ticket to make it worth the extra hassle of doing it on our own. I am hopeful for less than that as spring rates are $1,072 but we'll see how it turns out.

We were originally planning to be in BCN for three nights pre- and one night post-cruise but may end up doing just two nights pre- and one-night post cruise to save on the pre-cruise cost, especially since we're doing B2B cruises. But as someone else mentioned, we can't book airfare til late July anyway, so I'll sort it out then and see if there if variance in the prices based on the day of the week that we fly.

As for now, though, we're in the last full week of school and trying to keep the boys focused on what they need to do. Nathan has one more paper and his English final, finish up Driver's Ed online, and cross his fingers that he won't have a Psychology exam. Zachary has his 8th grade field trip to Busch Gardens this week and then a couple of 8th grade exams on Friday and Tuesday, then 8th grade promotion ceremony next Thursday and we'll be done for the school year!

That will be immediately followed by dentist and orthodontist appointments, three days of high school band-camp for upcoming freshmen, then a week with the grandparents and the beginning of summer virtual class (HOPE - health opportunities through physical education). Starting with this year's freshmen, all FL high school students are required to take one class online, so Zachary is doing his HOPE class online starting this summer so he can do band at school.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Woohoo! School is out and this time next year, we'll be just days away from this amazing adventure!

Here's to a great summer 2012 - but hurry the heck up!

 

[1stDisneyCruiseForUs]

Is anybody considering the Adventures by Disney cruise add-on? I called about it yesterday - looks amazing but awfully pricey!

All excursions and meals - 2 photo cd's (one for ship & one for excursion) - and some "surprise" gifts for $3129 kids & $3299 adults.

I am struggling to justify that much, but I'm also struggling with how much fun & interest the boys will get out of touring on our own. If we're going to pay a fortune in the first place, I want them to have a memorable experience.

Looking forward to meeting you all in a little over a year!

Steph

 

[jel0511]

Is anybody considering the Adventures by Disney cruise add-on? I called about it yesterday - looks amazing but awfully pricey!

All excursions and meals - 2 photo cd's (one for ship & one for excursion) - and some "surprise" gifts for $3129 kids & $3299 adults.

I am struggling to justify that much, but I'm also struggling with how much fun & interest the boys will get out of touring on our own. If we're going to pay a fortune in the first place, I want them to have a memorable experience.

Looking forward to meeting you all in a little over a year!

Steph

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Once I saw the excursions they offered in 2010 and the pricing, I decided it wasn't worth it. DCL offered the same excursions for us peons, though it wasn't as small of a group, etc. Those of us who saw the DCL photogs in and around the stops still got our photos taken of course we had to pay for them. For 13k for the 4 of us, I'm sure I'll be fine with DCL excursions and the private ones we book. I think I"ll even had a few $$$ left for a few pictures too. Now, I didn't think I missed out on anything by not doing ABD in 2010. I also didn't like the mob mentality to doing EVERYTHING together. YMMV though...

Also, to let all of you know, I booked my pre/post cruise stays at the Novotel Barcelona. It got good reviews in 2010, and they have rooms that hold 4 people. I'm paying 201 EUR a night, a bargain considering I paid 500 EUR in 2010 for Le Meredien. I think we'd actually like to stay at Royal Ramblas, but they don't allow booking this far out. Based on looking on random days this summer the price there for two rooms will be 300 EUR and I'd pay more for their location on Las Ramblas, we enjoyed staying on Las Ramblas last year and we plan on doing the Go Cars on debarkation day again just like last time and they are within walking distance of Las Ramblas.

 

[kmitchel]

OK, now that Hawaii is done, I can concentrate on Venice!

We are thinking of going to Paris for a week prior to the trip and then maybe taking the train over to Switzerland for a few days before heading down to Barcelona. I did see the ABD for Barcelona and just could NOT find a way to justify the cost! We went there a few years ago for our last Med cruise, but I wasn't really impressed with the city - especially now with a 12 year old boy in tow.

Has anyone ever been to Switzerland that could make some recommendations? We are thinking of staying in the Zurich/Lake Lucerne area.

Thanks!!

 

[JLSE50]

ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Once I saw the excursions they offered in 2010 and the pricing, I decided it wasn't worth it. DCL offered the same excursions for us peons, though it wasn't as small of a group, etc. Those of us who saw the DCL photogs in and around the stops still got our photos taken of course we had to pay for them. For 13k for the 4 of us, I'm sure I'll be fine with DCL excursions and the private ones we book. I think I"ll even had a few $$$ left for a few pictures too. Now, I didn't think I missed out on anything by not doing ABD in 2010. I also didn't like the mob mentality to doing EVERYTHING together. YMMV though...

Also, to let all of you know, I booked my pre/post cruise stays at the Novotel Barcelona. It got good reviews in 2010, and they have rooms that hold 4 people. I'm paying 201 EUR a night, a bargain considering I paid 500 EUR in 2010 for Le Meredien. I think we'd actually like to stay at Royal Ramblas, but they don't allow booking this far out. Based on looking on random days this summer the price there for two rooms will be 300 EUR and I'd pay more for their location on Las Ramblas, we enjoyed staying on Las Ramblas last year and we plan on doing the Go Cars on debarkation day again just like last time and they are within walking distance of Las Ramblas.

I looked at the GoCars info. They look like fun! Can you park them and walk away without losing them? (A friend rented a motor scooter on Cozumel and it was stolen while he was in a bar. Even though he still had the keys he was responsible for replacing it. He thinks someone picked it up with a truck. If they drilled out the ignition they could put in a new one. If it was the rental
Guy who picked it up, he might have spare keys anyway. Ryan was not a happy camper and it all makes us nervous.)

thanks!
Jan

 

[jel0511]

I looked at the GoCars info. They look like fun! Can you park them and walk away without losing them? (A friend rented a motor scooter on Cozumel and it was stolen while he was in a bar. Even though he still had the keys he was responsible for replacing it. He thinks someone picked it up with a truck. If they drilled out the ignition they could put in a new one. If it was the rental
Guy who picked it up, he might have spare keys anyway. Ryan was not a happy camper and it all makes us nervous.)

thanks!
Jan

All I can tell you is that we didn't have an issue with this. Didn't even think of it honestly.

 

[JLSE50]

All I can tell you is that we didn't have an issue with this. Didn't even think of it honestly.

So you had no trouble finding parking places?

 

[jel0511]

So you had no trouble finding parking places?

Nope it fits in scooter spots. They're usually available.

 

[JLSE50]

Nope it fits in scooter spots. They're usually available.

. Good to know!! Thanks!!

.

 

[WDWPrincess486]

Count me and my fiance in! We booked this in February shortly after we were engaged. We are getting married next April (at Walt Disney World) and this cruise will be our honeymoon! Can't wait! We plan to fly over on the 25th (red-eye) and stay in Barcelona for a night, and also plan to stay for a day or two at the end as well. So excited

 

[nzdisneymom]

Count me and my fiance in! We booked this in February shortly after we were engaged. We are getting married next April (at Walt Disney World) and this cruise will be our honeymoon! Can't wait! We plan to fly over on the 25th (red-eye) and stay in Barcelona for a night, and also plan to stay for a day or two at the end as well. So excited

Welcome, and Congratulations on your upcoming wedding! What a wonderful, Magical honeymoon! I've added you to the Who's Sailing list in the first post of the thread.

 

[kmitchel]

Does anyone have any excursions they would recommend for a 12 yr old? The last time we went to the Med, he didn't go on most of our tours that were city tours since he was only 7.

They took down all of the excursions for next year, but I'm not sure if I should research private tours or wait until March 2013 for them to post the DCL excursions. So much planning to do in a year!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Does anyone have any excursions they would recommend for a 12 yr old? The last time we went to the Med, he didn't go on most of our tours that were city tours since he was only 7.

They took down all of the excursions for next year, but I'm not sure if I should research private tours or wait until March 2013 for them to post the DCL excursions. So much planning to do in a year!

Any excursions we do will be through DCL. In 2007, Nathan was 11 and Zachary was nearly 10. The longer-days ones were a bit tougher on them, mostly because they played so hard on the ship and nearly all of our excursions were booked for early in the morning (and no sea days between). Most of our excursions were city-tour types and they slept a lot on the buses and trains. We've since learned to pace ourselves and choose an occasional afternoon excursion. This had been our first overseas trip / cruise and my thought had been let's get up early, do the excursion, then come back and enjoy the afternoon/evening onboard. Our favorite day was Pisa when we had an afternoon excursion and everyone got to sleep in.

As for a 12 yr old, I think by the time they are 12, they've had enough school field trips to be ready for city tours and such. I know that Nathan was between 6th and 7th grade while Zachary was between 4th and 5th when we went in 2007... 4th grade is the year of lots of field trips and then there are a lot more in 5th grade, so Nathan had logged a lot of field trip miles and was used to the type of touring we did - stay with the group, listen to the group leader, while Zachary had less field trip experience. We found that when we have done these types of excursions since then, that both boys have found them to be interesting and they are attentive once we're off the bus (and I got ok with them sleeping on the bus). They do listen to the guides on the buses now and learn a lot. But then having good guides makes a difference, too.

I will say that in 2007, Zachary was still 9 so I was only paying child prices for him so if he slept, I didn't care as much (LOL).

We have found that most of the city tours offered by DCL have been really good. We look for things like souvenir stops mentioned in the excursion description because we have been on some where there was no such stop and no time once we got back to port to venture out on our own. We look for whether a meal is included or not (often choosing the one that doesn't have a meal since our meals our included on the ship and in our experience with meals offered on day trips, about half have been inedible - I do pack the pb/j's and boxes of cereal from the ship in my day bag for the boys - yet another reason to pack ziploc sandwich baggies).

Depending on how active your family is, there are usually adventure-type excursions. We are not an "active" family so we typically look for those that will show us around and see more of the area than those that take you one place and you have an adventure/experience.

 

[newgeneb]

Gene & Cheryl here just finished the 15 day to Hawaii in May and booked this cruise This is a bucket list for us we have always wanted to go to Venice This will be our 12th Dis cruise

 

[JLSE50]

Gene & Cheryl here just finished the 15 day to Hawaii in May and booked this cruise This is a bucket list for us we have always wanted to go to Venice This will be our 12th Dis cruise

WELCOME ABOARD !!

We booked when they first announced because Venice has been on DH's bucket list for years.

Did you have a good time on the Hawaii cruise? We loved it!

Perhaps our paths will cross on this trip!

Jan (and Tom)

 

[kmitchel]

Now we just need ValBob to join so we can have some shirts made! I smile every time I look at mine from our Hawaii cruise.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Gene & Cheryl here just finished the 15 day to Hawaii in May and booked this cruise This is a bucket list for us we have always wanted to go to Venice This will be our 12th Dis cruise

Welcome! We booked on opening day because our older DS has wanted to go to Venice for ages so we had promised we'd make a trip by the time he graduated high school. He'll be a junior this fall, so we'll meet that promise! And being a DCL, that's just bonus!

 

[newgeneb]

WELCOME ABOARD !!

We booked when they first announced because Venice has been on DH's bucket list for years.

Did you have a good time on the Hawaii cruise? We loved it!

Perhaps our paths will cross on this trip!

Jan (and Tom)

We had a GREAT time in Hawaii the Luau was the best seas were a little ruff and chilly weather at sea but Changwaves bar on board was Big fun with match your mate and dancing

 

[newgeneb]

Now we just need ValBob to join so we can have some shirts made! I smile every time I look at mine from our Hawaii cruise.

I have the shirt also