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

[carpenta]

.....plus disney air you have trouble picking your seats so most likely it will be economy-low-low-low.............

 

[jel0511]

.....plus disney air you have trouble picking your seats so most likely it will be economy-low-low-low.............

VERY true. DCL usually doesn't buy the air until 30 days prior to sailing, so seat assignments are usually sparse to none at that point, especially if you want to sit next to each other......

 

[jel0511]

VERY true. DCL usually doesn't buy the air until 30 days prior to sailing, so seat assignments are usually sparse to none at that point, especially if you want to sit next to each other......

Another reason WHY getting nonstop flights with DCL is difficult..... It's one of the reasons we decide to take care of our air.

 

[shoes99]

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.

I'll keep watching. The non-stop on United out of Newark NJ is still there for the very beginning of May 2013 for over $1000 for non-stops, and $900+ if we nonstop from Newark and change planes in Germany on the return.
Thanks for everyones help.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We've used DCL for air for three cruises - two to Europe and one to Alaska. For both European ones, we did DCL air, hotel, transfers. We had the direct red-eye flight from ATL (our "home" airport for DCL purposes) to Barcelona / London. We flew in a few days early but within their window to not have a fare difference. They allowed three days pre and two days post-cruise. For our first trip, we arrived the day before we sailed which meant we were totally exhausted and decided to never do that again for a big trip like that - we basically missed Barcelona as a port. We flew home the day we got off the ship with a mid-day flight, direct back to ATL.

For London, we flew in three days early (again, red-eye direct from ATL) and we stayed two nights post-cruise and had a direct flight back.

For Alaska, we flew connecting even though there was a direct flight from ATL to Vancouver - the problem for us was that we had decided to fly home the same day we got off the cruise and because the direct flight return trip left before noon, DCL opted to put us on a different airline which meant we had connection (and with flight delays and time changes, we arrived back in ATL at 3 AM - it was brutal). Had we decided to stay one extra night in Vancouver, they would have flown us on the direct flight from ATL to Vancouver. Lesson learned - check the flight times for direct flights from your airport to your destination and return to see what times are typically available.

As for seating, each time we've been given our confirmation number from DCL and been able to switch our seat assignments if we were not happy with them - we could do it online ourseives directly with the airline because we had the air confirmation number. For both London and Alaska, we did just that - we were happy with our seat assignments for Barcelona. However, I will say that we had called to get our flight information as soon as it was available so that might have been a difference in being able to switch up our seat assignments.

You can add the air with DCL and not have to pay a dime on it til final payment is due. So it doesn't hurt to go ahead and add it if you think you might want to use it - if you want to get an idea of the price before going to the trouble of calling DCL/travel agent, you can go online and start a reservation and choose "add air" and then you can pick your departure airport and see what the air price will be. For us, flying from ATL, it's $1800+ per person, so when I see the direct flights from ATL to Barcelona with the times we want (it's only one flight per day) at less than $1100 (ok, not yet summer since we can't book yet for when we want to go and return), I am pretty sure we'll be able to get air better on our own - however, we do want to consider the extra costs of separate trip insurance to cover the flights plus transfers, although I am certain that we'll be able to get a better price on the pre-cruise accomodations than what DCL will charge us We will continue to watch the prices and once the booking window is open for us, we'll lay it all out and decide if we want to go ahead and book air or continue watching and hope for a Tuesday sale

 

[JLSE50]

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!

As soon as we open our mouths everyone KNOWS we are Americans so why try to hide it!



(I have just been looking at websites about American Cemeteries in Europe to see if any are near where we will be going and consider seeing some. A lot of Americans died so that these cultures could remain intact and now we are coming to see those cultures.)

.

 

[carpenta]

As soon as we open our mouths everyone KNOWS we are Americans so why try to hide it!



(I have just been looking at websites about American Cemeteries in Europe to see if any are near where we will be going and consider seeing some. A lot of Americans died so that these cultures could remain intact and now we are coming to see those cultures.)

.

We were in Marseille in 2007 on an excursion and on the tour to the Cathedral we stopped and saw a small well kept park/monument with a U.S. Sherman tank surrounded by a iron fence. Beautiful flowers and benches. The guide said the tank had stood in that location since it fell silent in WWII on the battle ti win back the city from the Nazis. The Cathedral still holds bullet holes left from U.S. air strikes for the Nazis used the church as a lookout. Nice to see that the peoples still remember our Greatest Generation.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We were in Marseille in 2007 on an excursion and on the tour to the Cathedral we stopped and saw a small well kept park/monument with a U.S. Sherman tank surrounded by a iron fence. Beautiful flowers and benches. The guide said the tank had stood in that location since it fell silent in WWII on the battle ti win back the city from the Nazis. The Cathedral still holds bullet holes left from U.S. air strikes for the Nazis used the church as a lookout. Nice to see that the peoples still remember our Greatest Generation.

I remember seeing that tank!
And in Nice, there is a nice monument there, too, for the American soldiers. Right along the main road by the beach.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thought you might be interested in this article about things to see in Venice.

http://www.cntraveler.com/daily-traveler/2012/06/venice-museums-lesser-known

 

[Hygiene99]

I'll keep watching. The non-stop on United out of Newark NJ is still there for the very beginning of May 2013 for over $1000 for non-stops, and $900+ if we nonstop from Newark and change planes in Germany on the return.
Thanks for everyones help.

We flew iberia.com last time. out of JFK.

 

[kmitchel]

This time next year, I'll be in Paris!! Will anyone else?? We've been looking at hotels as well as renting an apartment for the few days we will be in town. It is SO hard to find a place to hold a family!

 

[jel0511]

This time next year, I'll be in Paris!! Will anyone else?? We've been looking at hotels as well as renting an apartment for the few days we will be in town. It is SO hard to find a place to hold a family!

We stayed in Paris before the 2010 Med and we stayed at the Marriott on the Champs Elysees. Their deluxe rooms hold 4 people, small room but doable for a couple of nights. FANTASTIC location!!!!!!

 

[nzdisneymom]

For anyohne looking for information about the hotels DCL is using in Barcelona, here's what we've learned.

Renaissance Barcelona (was AC Diplomatic (Marriott)) DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $408/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

Hilton Diagonal Mar DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $416/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

We went ahead and added two nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise at the Renaissance Barcelona through DCL. You can cancel for a full refund as long as it is more than 14 days prior to your stay. We added it while we could get it. I compared the price with what these hotels are currently booking at and the DCL rate is fair per room per night. When our TA first emailed me the price for a night, I thought it was per-room and that we'd have to still get two rooms - no thank you! But for two rooms, this is in the range of what we've paid for one room pre-cruise in both London and Vancouver through DCL (and stayed at really nice hotels).

Just thought I'd pass along the information in case someone else was waiting to find out.

(and if you're B2B'ing, you'll have read this same post from me on the Greece thread.)

 

[jel0511]

For anyohne looking for information about the hotels DCL is using in Barcelona, here's what we've learned.

Renaissance Barcelona (was AC Diplomatic (Marriott)) DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $408/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

Hilton Diagonal Mar DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $416/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

We went ahead and added two nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise at the Renaissance Barcelona through DCL. You can cancel for a full refund as long as it is more than 14 days prior to your stay. We added it while we could get it. I compared the price with what these hotels are currently booking at and the DCL rate is fair per room per night. When our TA first emailed me the price for a night, I thought it was per-room and that we'd have to still get two rooms - no thank you! But for two rooms, this is in the range of what we've paid for one room pre-cruise in both London and Vancouver through DCL (and stayed at really nice hotels).

Just thought I'd pass along the information in case someone else was waiting to find out.

(and if you're B2B'ing, you'll have read this same post from me on the Greece thread.)

That's not that bad!!! Thanks for the info. I just emailed my TA to ask her to find about adding it to our ressies. I have the Novotel booked right now, and its 201 EUR a night, so chapter, but the location of the Rennaisance is much better!!!! For $400 a night, I might add it to my ressie and see once Marriott releases the dates, see what's cheaper. We paid $500 a night last time at Le Meridien. We'll be there one night pre and one night post cruise. We will be booking 2 nights pre cruise, so I have a room in the AM when we land, not dealing with jet lag and no room until 3PM again!!!!!!

 

[shoes99]

For anyohne looking for information about the hotels DCL is using in Barcelona, here's what we've learned.

Renaissance Barcelona (was AC Diplomatic (Marriott)) DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $408/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

Hilton Diagonal Mar DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $416/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

We went ahead and added two nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise at the Renaissance Barcelona through DCL. You can cancel for a full refund as long as it is more than 14 days prior to your stay. We added it while we could get it. I compared the price with what these hotels are currently booking at and the DCL rate is fair per room per night. When our TA first emailed me the price for a night, I thought it was per-room and that we'd have to still get two rooms - no thank you! But for two rooms, this is in the range of what we've paid for one room pre-cruise in both London and Vancouver through DCL (and stayed at really nice hotels).

Just thought I'd pass along the information in case someone else was waiting to find out.

(and if you're B2B'ing, you'll have read this same post from me on the Greece thread.)

We saw your post and went ahead and added The Renaissance Barcelona pre-cruise. We also added air, but will continue to shop around. We have until our paid in full date to cancel air...we are flying out of Newark, NJ and at age 67 and 68 we also look for convenience.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We saw your post and went ahead and added The Renaissance Barcelona pre-cruise. We also added air, but will continue to shop around. We have until our paid in full date to cancel air...we are flying out of Newark, NJ and at age 67 and 68 we also look for convenience.

At 57/49 and two teenage boys when we travel, we also like the convenience! We do like that "pampered" feeling you get when doing air and hotel through DCL - it takes a lot of guesswork out of things for us and makes our transition from arrival to boarding much easier. We factor the expense into our vacation budget and know that it means we might not be able to do something else, but there's so much to see and do anyway that we can't see and do it all!

I did have to take some deep breaths when I got our revised "balance due" but my trusty calculator and budget spreadsheet showed me that we're still within our travel budget. Haven't established our excursion budget yet - I'll be working on that this winter as we forego Christmas gifts in exchange for this vacation next summer!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thought someone might be interested.

Fodor's Insider's Guide to the South of France.

Also, have any of you see Madagascar 3? We saw it this week and loved it - what was especially fun was seeing Monte Carlo and Rome It was a fun movie.

 

[lisah0711]

For anyohne looking for information about the hotels DCL is using in Barcelona, here's what we've learned.

Renaissance Barcelona (was AC Diplomatic (Marriott)) DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $408/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

Hilton Diagonal Mar DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $416/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

We went ahead and added two nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise at the Renaissance Barcelona through DCL. You can cancel for a full refund as long as it is more than 14 days prior to your stay. We added it while we could get it. I compared the price with what these hotels are currently booking at and the DCL rate is fair per room per night. When our TA first emailed me the price for a night, I thought it was per-room and that we'd have to still get two rooms - no thank you! But for two rooms, this is in the range of what we've paid for one room pre-cruise in both London and Vancouver through DCL (and stayed at really nice hotels).

Just thought I'd pass along the information in case someone else was waiting to find out.

(and if you're B2B'ing, you'll have read this same post from me on the Greece thread.)

Thank you for posting this!

Booked a room pre-cruise at the Renaissance for now. It's nice to have one less thing to worry about when we arrive in Barcelona since it is our first cruise. We were able to get one room with 3 people -- we may be a little cramped but it will be good practice for the ship.

I did not book air because we are doing DVC and cash so every time I do something I have to pay now. The budget is not ready to pay for air.

Thanks for all the great information!

 

[jel0511]

Thanks for the info. We just added 2 nights pre and 1 post at the Renaissance. We aren't arriving until 6/26, but did 2 nights so we have a room when we arrive.

 

[shoes99]

Princess has a new ship Royal Princess saling out of Barcelona also in June 2013.
I just priced a gty obstructed view balcony and came up with $7111 for cruise only with taxes and insurance.
My cat 10A secret porthole room on the Magic for June 27th
is $6428 for cruise fare, taxes and insurance for two adults.
I'll keep checking but my heart belongs to Disney.