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

[newgeneb]

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!

Thanks for the Welcome This will be a GREAT Cruise

 

[gydell]

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

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

I have the shirt also

We should all wear them on the same day!

 

[newgeneb]

We should all wear them on the same day!

Sounds like FUN Hawaii comes to Venice

 

[newgeneb]

I am on the wrong Cruise chat we should be on the July 25th Sorry about that

 

[JLSE50]

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.

We should all wear them on the same day!

I am on the wrong Cruise chat we should be on the July 25th Sorry about that

I hope they have a good time on their cruise, but we can still wear our Hawaiian shirts on the cruise! Blue Bear will be there and maybe my Steamboat Willie with their matching shirts so if Peyton brings Duffy we will be a mob.

 

[lisah0711]

Hello all!

DH, DS and I will be joining you on this fabulous cruise. We are first time cruisers and a first trip to Europe for me and DS so it will be quite an experience. DS will be celebrating his 14th birthday at sea.

Thanks to the wealth of information on the Disboards about this whole process I'm not feeling too freaked out . . . yet!

We've booked our room, have our travel insurance in place and it looks like there isn't anything to do but wait for airfares to come out and look at hotels in Barcelona and different excursions. If there is something else I should be thinking about or doing now, please let me know.

We have already decided the only way to make this work is to go with the idea that we will be back again someday and are not going to see everything there is to see -- DH's typical way of travelling. We don't want to come home needing a vacation from our vacation.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you!

 

[JLSE50]

Hello all!

DH, DS and I will be joining you on this fabulous cruise. We are first time cruisers and a first trip to Europe for me and DS so it will be quite an experience. DS will be celebrating his 14th birthday at sea.

Thanks to the wealth of information on the Disboards about this whole process I'm not feeling too freaked out . . . yet!

We've booked our room, have our travel insurance in place and it looks like there isn't anything to do but wait for airfares to come out and look at hotels in Barcelona and different excursions. If there is something else I should be thinking about or doing now, please let me know.

We have already decided the only way to make this work is to go with the idea that we will be back again someday and are not going to see everything there is to see -- DH's typical way of travelling. We don't want to come home needing a vacation from our vacation.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you!

WELCOME ABOARD !!

Sounds like you are all set for now.

I like your attitude--it is much like mine.
Anything I do is more than I have done before, I want to have a good time, make good memories and get home healthy and not exhausted. If I never go back or I do go back the "pace yourself" method works well for us.

Enjoy!!
Jan

.

 

[kmitchel]

HAHA! I'll bet Peyton will be more than happy to bring Duffy in his Hawaii shirt. We will look like crazy Americans boarding the ship!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Hello all!

DH, DS and I will be joining you on this fabulous cruise. We are first time cruisers and a first trip to Europe for me and DS so it will be quite an experience. DS will be celebrating his 14th birthday at sea.

Thanks to the wealth of information on the Disboards about this whole process I'm not feeling too freaked out . . . yet!

We've booked our room, have our travel insurance in place and it looks like there isn't anything to do but wait for airfares to come out and look at hotels in Barcelona and different excursions. If there is something else I should be thinking about or doing now, please let me know.

We have already decided the only way to make this work is to go with the idea that we will be back again someday and are not going to see everything there is to see -- DH's typical way of travelling. We don't want to come home needing a vacation from our vacation.

Looking forward to getting to know all of you!

Welcome to the group! I've added you to the "Who's Saililng?" list in the first thread. You could spend some time making a "short list" of hotels. We are scheduled to fly and do pre-cruise hotel with DCL but are watching airfare and if the price-point is right, we'll swap and do air on our own which will also lead to hotel on our own. We have some friends who are on a cruise this week that left from Barcelona so when they return, I'm going to find out where they stayed - their sons are around the same ages as ours.

We always leave "something" for next time - we consider it "seeding our next vacation" by not doing everything. Plus like you we don't want to be so totally exhausted when we return. We were in the Med in 2007 and while we didn't expect to return on another cruise, we didn't rule it out because even while hitting many of the same ports, there were plenty of things in each port that we would've liked to have done but didn't get a chance to do before - so now we can!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I was just reading about another cruise line that is sailing in the Med this summer. They are on the inaugural cruise of a new ship and were scheduled to be in Livorno but now have been told that there is a cargo ship in their spot at the port and the only other available spot is too small for the ship. So they are trying to still go but if not, they will miss the port - this is the port that goes to Pisa, Florence, etc. If they can't get in on the day they are supposed to, they are going to try to get in the next day which was a scheduled sea day.

They are letting the passengers make free phone calls to cancel private tours or make other arrangements should they not get to the port at all. But stuff like this is what makes me feel better about doing ship-sponsored excursions - one less thing to have to deal with while onboard / vacationing. At least for something that would be expensive.

DCL uses La Spezia.

 

[carpenta]

I do believe Livorno is a tender port for Disney and have few dockage space especially for cruise ships. I agree with making ship sponsored excursions. When we were on Corsica one of the tour busses had a fender bender and the Magic had to wait an hour or so until those passengers made their way back to the ship.

 

[jel0511]

I do believe Livorno is a tender port for Disney and have few dockage space especially for cruise ships. I agree with making ship sponsored excursions. When we were on Corsica one of the tour busses had a fender bender and the Magic had to wait an hour or so until those passengers made their way back to the ship.

DCL doesn't use the port of Livorno, DCL goes to La Spezia, which is a tender port. La Spezia is about an hour drive north of Livorno and thus less desirable to get to Pisa and Florence.

Also the port of Naples that every cruise company uses is also a HUGE cargo port as well, so this situation could also come into play in Naples.

 

[carpenta]

DCL doesn't use the port of Livorno, DCL goes to La Spezia, which is a tender port. La Spezia is about an hour drive north of Livorno and thus less desirable to get to Pisa and Florence.

Also the port of Naples that every cruise company uses is also a HUGE cargo port as well, so this situation could also come into play in Naples.

You are correct sir/madem..........I got that mixed up with another Med. cruise we took. LaSpezia was the port and was the home port of the Italian navy (oxymoron) and was bombed alot in WWII. Naples has a large dock space right downtown and you can jump off the ship and take the ferry to Capri. Yes alot of ships in Naples.

 

[nzdisneymom]

As an update, the other line is going to make port in Livorno, just on a different day and as a result they'll miss Marseilles later in the week. Stuff like this is one reason we generally choose to not do an inaugural cruise, but in cases like this trip, it will be Right? Won't we be the first DCL to arrive in Venice? And Dubrovnik?

I shared this over on the Facebook group - don't judge me by what I watch on tv - but the Bachelorette will be in Dubrovnik next week. The scenery from the previews is spectacular. Because they'll have their "dates" at some of the highlight areas, I'll be paying attention as the travel aspect of it.

 

[carpenta]

I (we) were on the ignaugural Disney cruise in 2007 out of Barcelona. It went quite smooth with no big hic-cups. We chose to do all DCL excursions and everyone went smooth as silk.Speaking to a crew member he said DCL did the logistics about 2 years in advance. Every port on that sail all the big shots from the towns came aboard and as is the custom had a welcoming ceremony. A couple ports even had a fireworks display to welcome the Magic. It was quite a cruise and we just chose that cruise because it fit into our time line....nice accident I guess......

 

[shoes99]

Has anyone already added Disney Air to their package. If I add it today, do I just have to pay the 10% (onboard) deposit for the air now? Looks like the Air from Newark is approx $1500 per person incl transfers. I will shop around, but I've done 10 cruises and have never added Disney Air.
Michele

 

[jel0511]

Has anyone already added Disney Air to their package. If I add it today, do I just have to pay the 10% (onboard) deposit for the air now? Looks like the Air from Newark is approx $1500 per person incl transfers. I will shop around, but I've done 10 cruises and have never added Disney Air.
Michele

Are you sure you want DCL air? You have no choice as time you fly. DCL will fly you in to arrive on the 27th unless you pay the air deviation fee.

 

[shoes99]

Has anyone already added Disney Air to their package. If I add it today, do I just have to pay the 10% (onboard) deposit for the air now? Looks like the Air from Newark is approx $1500 per person incl transfers. I will shop around, but I've done 10 cruises and have never added Disney Air.
Michele

Are you sure you want DCL air? You have no choice as time you fly. DCL will fly you in to arrive on the 27th unless you pay the air deviation fee.

Not booking anything yet, just looking for opinions. When we did the Baltics in 2010 on Princess were flew in the day before to Copenhagen, and when we got there DH (age 67) was exhausted so we just stayed at the aiport hotel until it was time to go to the port the next day. I'll keep watching the other airlines when the dates are available for June 27th to July 9th, 2013 cruise. We are flying out of Newark.
We flew SAS and upgraded to Economy Plus by using Optiontown, it was a better choice for us seniors 66+ on a direct flight.

 

[jel0511]

Not booking anything yet, just looking for opinions. When we did the Baltics in 2010 on Princess were flew in the day before to Copenhagen, and when we got there DH (age 67) was exhausted so we just stayed at the aiport hotel until it was time to go to the port the next day. I'll keep watching the other airlines when the dates are available for June 27th to July 9th, 2013 cruise. We are flying out of Newark.
We flew SAS and upgraded to Economy Plus by using Optiontown, it was a better choice for us seniors 66+ on a direct flight.

Just to let you know that out of EWR your only direct option will be United. IF they offer the flight anymore. Our friends haven't seem the direct (nonstop) flight on the schedule yet for next year yet. So who knows if they discontinued it. I do know they have it this summer and it was available in 2010 when we went. We'll be flying out of JFK, since we have miles on Delta and they have a nonstop from JFK. Our friends might be joining us if United doesn't put the non-stop on the schedule for Summer 2013. Also, United is VERY stingy in terms of offering upgrades (paid or miles), so if you want more room, you're better off booking it when fares come out.

 

[jel0511]

Also wanted to add, that with DCL air you are NOT guaranteed the non-stop flight. You are only guaranteed to get to your destination, again if you want to guarantee a non-stop flight with DCL you need again to pay the air deviation fee to be able to choose your flights.