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

[gydell]

All day is VERY long!!! We did 4 hrs and were exhausted!!!!! You just follow the instructions. You don't have to tell them which ones you want to do. As for rain, I have no idea as it didn't rain the day we did it.

I had figured that with lunch, touring Sagrada Familia, Guell Palace, and a couple of other things it would take the entire day. I will have to check out the 4 hour tour. Thanks!

 

[pacurn]

Thanks so much for the sunset time. Those are the pictures I really want to take.

I believe my inner commando tourist will surface in Venice. Don't know how to fit it all in along with a trip to the glass factory.

 

[nzdisneymom]

The platinum members on the first Greece cruise were able to start booking at midnight. Early reports are no Palo dinners were available to book - they don't think they were "sold out" but think they just weren't in the booking system yet. They were able to book Palo brunches, though. Just thought I'd mention it as I know our Platinum members for this cruise will be able to book excursions and such soon.

We are March 2nd for the Greece and March 14 for this one. I'm really hoping they get the Venice excursions posted soon, but the longer they wait, the more likely I am to have figured out what we'll do on our own. I am actually thinking that the first day, we'll just do on our own stuff, and then do something through DCL on the second day (that whole don't want to miss the ship thing, ya know?)

For Dubrovnik, we think we'll do that on our own and are looking at hiring a local tour guide for a couple of hours to give us some local history / flavor of the highlights and then just hang out on our own for the rest of the afternoon.

 

[rotary2808]

Platnium can book in less than two weeks. DCL is really trying my patience b not going ahead and posting the excursions. I'm pretty sure we know what we're doing but I want to see what DCL is offering as well.

 

[redcoral33]

Just added ourselves (Cynthia, DH, DD 10) to the roll call. This will be our 5th DCL cruise. Love the longer cruises, decided to go for the 12 day Med cruise while we were on the East bound Panama Canal cruise back in Dec. Lots of good info shared here and in the trip reports. I am reading up to see if we want to do some ports on our own.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Just added ourselves (Cynthia, DH, DD 10) to the roll call. This will be our 5th DCL cruise. Love the longer cruises, decided to go for the 12 day Med cruise while we were on the East bound Panama Canal cruise back in Dec. Lots of good info shared here and in the trip reports. I am reading up to see if we want to do some ports on our own.

Welcome!

 

[dorothyn]

Hi all! Thanks for the welcomes. I'm getting so excited already and we have 132 days until the cruise. Getting everything planned

Welcome Aboard

I'm Laurie

My family and I did the Baltic cruise in 2010, the last sailing in July. Which one were you on?

We were on the very first Baltic cruise, June 2010. It was amazing. I hope the Mediterranean cruise is as awesome. I really just hope we're not so exhausted we need a vacation from our vacation

 

[JLSE50]

http://www.disboards.com/showpost.php?p=43933588&postcount=2667

Someone outside did manage to catch a photo.
Ours from the inside of Palo did not come out that great as we were caught off guard

What a riot!!

.

 

[nzdisneymom]

Still waiting on the shore excursions for Venice and Dubrovnik.

 

[lisah0711]

Welcome to our new shipmates!

We decided on our "big picture" activities and are starting to get into the nitty gritty of the planning -- being newbies it is starting to get a little overwhelming and a bit scary.

Suddenly even simple things like checking into the hotel seem like a foreign concept. Surely using Disney transportation to a Disney hotel will take care of that worry. I think we will be able to take the HOHO bus to Sagrada Familia. Our plane arrives early on 6/26 so we will want to keep going for as long as we can.

Could someone give me an idea what to expect the day of embarkation? Again we are using Disney transportation. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what happens when you actually get on the ship -- food and drink! But it is the part before that is a little murky to me.

Thanks for your help!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Welcome to our new shipmates!

We decided on our "big picture" activities and are starting to get into the nitty gritty of the planning -- being newbies it is starting to get a little overwhelming and a bit scary.

Suddenly even simple things like checking into the hotel seem like a foreign concept. Surely using Disney transportation to a Disney hotel will take care of that worry. I think we will be able to take the HOHO bus to Sagrada Familia. Our plane arrives early on 6/26 so we will want to keep going for as long as we can.

Could someone give me an idea what to expect the day of embarkation? Again we are using Disney transportation. I feel like I have a pretty good idea of what happens when you actually get on the ship -- food and drink! But it is the part before that is a little murky to me.

Thanks for your help!

If you're using DCL transportation, getting to the port and onto the ship is really easy. When you check in at the hotel, they will give you a letter (or provide one to you later in the day) with instructions on what to do. There may be a DCL rep at the hotel depending on what time of day you arrive. The letter will tell you what to do with your luggage, where to meet the transportation, etc. When we took DCL transportation in London, we had to sign up for a time to go over to the port - they had transportation leaving every 15-30 minutes. The luggage went over in a separate vehicle.

We stayed at a DCL hotel in Vancouver and while we could walk to the port, we had DCL take our luggage from the hotel to the port for us so we didn't have to drag suitcases across the street. That situation was very similar in that we got a letter with instructions for what to do - for having our luggage ready for pick-up by a certain time, etc. And there will definitely be a DCL rep that morning, so you can always go for a quick chat / check that all is well.

So then they transport you over to the port terminal and from there, it's much the same as anything else - have your cruise documents and identification ready and you'll check-in there. Sometimes they have check-in at the hotels so you can do everything at the hotel with the DCL rep including having your pictures made so when you get to the port, you don't have to do all that - they will tell you what to do and when to do it.

Then you get on the ship and after that, it's the same as every other cruise!

 

[JLSE50]

When we were there last time you really could not roam. There was a rope and you just walked through the church. We bought our tickets there.

We are planning to use the HOHO for both transportation and sightseeing in Barcelona and will buy our Sagrada Familia tickets ahead of time for The day after we arrive which will be the day before we sail.

What is everyone planning to do on their arrival day? After a night flight and very little sleep not sure whether to start with important sites or less important sites.

We arrive the day before embarkation and Sagrada is what we want to see so it sounds like we find out how to use HOHO bus to get there, enjoy the view, see the cathedral, return to the hotel and sleep.

then CRUISE!!

.

 

[JLSE50]

That's good to hear about the other ships
I think there is supposed to be a festival while we are there





A friend posted a website to me for buying tickets to Sagrada Familia
But it only allowed sales up to end of March
http://www.sagradafamilia.cat/sf-eng/docs_serveis/infoTarifesInd.php


us too
I am just hoping to keep everyone awake on the first day and I think it was you (or someone else) that told me that scheduling anything anything the first day was risky as any plane delays could interfere
So HoHo bus for the first day and the Sagrada Familia, the Towers and the Gaudi Museum the next day (day before the cruise).
Maybe we'll see you on the bus


Looking to keep us busy enough on the day we arrive to stay awake, but nothing really important scheduled so not to run the risk of plane delays causing stress.
The next day (6/26) is when we will do most of our sightseeing...mostly Gaudi I think. Trying to talk the DH (Darren) into a segway tour

Thanks for the info! I noticed that we cannot buy the Sagrada tickets yet too, so I will keep checking.



.

 

[nzdisneymom]

While I enjoy meeting other people while we're traveling, when it comes to dinner, we prefer to be just us at the end of a long day of touring, so we've asked our TA to request a 4-top table for dinner. I'm much more likely to get my family members to come to dinner when it's just us.

What do you all prefer for dining? We also don't always eat in the dining room, so when sitting by ourselves, we don't leave people waiting and wondering if we're coming or are just late.

 

[lisah0711]

If you're using DCL transportation, getting to the port and onto the ship is really easy. When you check in at the hotel, they will give you a letter (or provide one to you later in the day) with instructions on what to do. There may be a DCL rep at the hotel depending on what time of day you arrive. The letter will tell you what to do with your luggage, where to meet the transportation, etc. When we took DCL transportation in London, we had to sign up for a time to go over to the port - they had transportation leaving every 15-30 minutes. The luggage went over in a separate vehicle.

We stayed at a DCL hotel in Vancouver and while we could walk to the port, we had DCL take our luggage from the hotel to the port for us so we didn't have to drag suitcases across the street. That situation was very similar in that we got a letter with instructions for what to do - for having our luggage ready for pick-up by a certain time, etc. And there will definitely be a DCL rep that morning, so you can always go for a quick chat / check that all is well.

So then they transport you over to the port terminal and from there, it's much the same as anything else - have your cruise documents and identification ready and you'll check-in there. Sometimes they have check-in at the hotels so you can do everything at the hotel with the DCL rep including having your pictures made so when you get to the port, you don't have to do all that - they will tell you what to do and when to do it.

Then you get on the ship and after that, it's the same as every other cruise!

Thank you, Cindy, for the great information and for talking me out of my panic! I love your blog by the way -- lots of great info!

We arrive the day before embarkation and Sagrada is what we want to see so it sounds like we find out how to use HOHO bus to get there, enjoy the view, see the cathedral, return to the hotel and sleep.

then CRUISE!!

.

Sounds like a plan to me! If you figure out which bus to use before we do please post.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We arrive the day before embarkation and Sagrada is what we want to see so it sounds like we find out how to use HOHO bus to get there, enjoy the view, see the cathedral, return to the hotel and sleep.

then CRUISE!!

.

Which hotel are you staying at? We're at the Renaissance Barcelona and I was looking around on Google Maps (Street View - love it) to see how far of a walk it might be from the hotel to Sagrada Familia - it looks like 20-30 minutes.

There are a couple of different HOHO companies. In 2007 we used Bus Turistic and may very well use that one again. They have earbuds that they provide and you can pick your language for the pre-recorded commentary.

 

[gydell]

While I enjoy meeting other people while we're traveling, when it comes to dinner, we prefer to be just us at the end of a long day of touring, so we've asked our TA to request a 4-top table for dinner. I'm much more likely to get my family members to come to dinner when it's just us.

What do you all prefer for dining? We also don't always eat in the dining room, so when sitting by ourselves, we don't leave people waiting and wondering if we're coming or are just late.

We always ask for our own table and have always gotten it for the same reasons, plus we can eat at our on pace. We rarely stay for the dining room shows.

 

[MrsScooby]

Platnium can book in less than two weeks. DCL is really trying my patience b not going ahead and posting the excursions. I'm pretty sure we know what we're doing but I want to see what DCL is offering as well.

Me too

Hi all! Thanks for the welcomes. I'm getting so excited already and we have 132 days until the cruise. Getting everything planned



We were on the very first Baltic cruise, June 2010. It was amazing. I hope the Mediterranean cruise is as awesome. I really just hope we're not so exhausted we need a vacation from our vacation

Thankful for that last sea day for sleeping late and just relaxing

Thanks for the info! I noticed that we cannot buy the Sagrada tickets yet too, so I will keep checking.



.

If you remember to post here to remind the rest of us that would be great

 

[MrsScooby]

Just added ourselves (Cynthia, DH, DD 10) to the roll call. This will be our 5th DCL cruise. Love the longer cruises, decided to go for the 12 day Med cruise while we were on the East bound Panama Canal cruise back in Dec. Lots of good info shared here and in the trip reports. I am reading up to see if we want to do some ports on our own.

welcome aboard

Lots of info for doing the ports on your own
Minniediva has a pretrip report that has a ton of links and trip reports for info

 

[jel0511]

welcome aboard

Lots of info for doing the ports on your own
Minniediva has a pretrip report that has a ton of links and trip reports for info

Yeah Kim is awesome and a good friend of mine. We traveled with her in 2010. I'll tell her when we hook up in WDW next month that you like her report.