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

[elm95376]

We have that one booked as well
Would be fun to head over together






Janet don't wait much longer. I think there are only 25 spots per tour..
They give you discounted tics if you book more than one tour so we also bought tickets for the clock tower tour at 2:00

I hope I won't be too late, especially since I think there will be 6 of us. I sent off the email so I am hoping to get the tickets tomorrow. I'll check into the clock tower tour to. Do you know if the Secret Itenery include the Bridge of Sighs?

Janet

 

[poohmomof5]

In 2010 when we last sailed the med there were a lot of people who took early flights home. BUT IMO things are different this year. In 2010 our last stop was in France, so we were very close to Barcelona and got in to port earlier in the morning. We did stay over last time as our flight was at that same time. Now I wasn't rushing, and we didn't make it to our hotel until 11 we walked off at 8:30 This time we are also staying over, it more relaxing. BTW we didn't go to the last breakfast in the dining room we ate in Topsiders. We had reservations for a tour that we wanted to get too, we were late. Luckily it was just for the Go cars, a scheduled tour would have left without us. This year there have been no DCL declarations about early flights,,like there had been in 2010. DCL is asking all flights to be scheduled after 12:30 and they haven't moved from that yet. In 2010 they had by now.

As an FYI, I really felt that debarkation was kind of a mess. We stayed in Barcelona for the night and we weren't in any hurry, so we didn't really have concerns about our transport to the hotel, however, we ended up waiting over an hour for a taxi. It was fairly frustrating. SO I would make sure to hire a private transfer if you want to take an early flight. I personally won't risk it as there are 7 of us, so the stress of missing that flight will not be worth it.

 

[nzdisneymom]

As an FYI, I really felt that debarkation was kind of a mess. We stayed in Barcelona for the night and we weren't in any hurry, so we didn't really have concerns about our transport to the hotel, however, we ended up waiting over an hour for a taxi. It was fairly frustrating. SO I would make sure to hire a private transfer if you want to take an early flight. I personally won't risk it as there are 7 of us, so the stress of missing that flight will not be worth it.

We are staying an extra night in Barcelona as well. I figure that will actually make our last day on the ship less stressful because while I have to pack, I can always re-pack for the flight once we get to the hotel in terms of making sure the weight is equally distributed, etc.

Speaking of weight, DH bought a handheld luggage scale so that should help us out this time! He got it over Christmas. Some friends have one that they let us try out when we were in Alaska and it was surprisingly close to what the airport scale put us at.

 

[poohmomof5]

I thought some might be interested.


Sala Regia, Vatican City
http://travel.nationalgeographic.com/365-photos/sala-regia-vatican-city/

Sent via Flipboard

Sent from my iPad

WOW, that is all I have to say...wow!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Rick Steves What's New in Italy for 2013 - in the USA Today today.

And for those beginning to wonder about navigating Venice, I asked over on Cruise Critic about it - here's the link with several responses.

 

[gydell]

Anyone doing the Murano glass on their own? We have the evening Doge Palace tour and the early morning St. Marks booked through DCL. There are no other tours that we can take according to them, so we are on our own.

 

[elm95376]

It looks easy enough to get there, just figuring the right amount of time. Let us know if you book it. I think we could all head over early together. You probably want to book it soon. The 10:45 isn't available so only 9:55 and 11:something. Oh, I paid via PayPal, too. Super easy.

Yay! I booked all 6 tickets. I was worried there wouldn't be enough room. One less thing to stress about. It will be great to all go over together.

So far this is all I have booked. We plan on doing Pompeii on our own and I'm assuming I don't have to get anything ahead of time for that. This is our first time so I can't book DCL tours until April, but Rome maybe the only tour we do through them as we are concerned about missing the ship with so much to see.

Thanks!
Janet

 

[nzdisneymom]

Yay! I booked all 6 tickets. I was worried there wouldn't be enough room. One less thing to stress about. It will be great to all go over together.

So far this is all I have booked. We plan on doing Pompeii on our own and I'm assuming I don't have to get anything ahead of time for that. This is our first time so I can't book DCL tours until April, but Rome maybe the only tour we do through them as we are concerned about missing the ship with so much to see.

Thanks!
Janet

Great - this will be so fun!

 

[nzdisneymom]

We have made arrangements for a private tour in Dubrovnik - we are excited to have someone who is local to show us around the city. So with getting those details finalized, I think the planning is done - just need our DCL booking window to open next Wednesday night! I love this part of trip planning!

 

[pacurn]

Are you thinking of booking this while there or online ahead of time?

I'm thinking ahead of time, another thing off the list. Besides not racking up another phone charge.

 

[MrsScooby]

Yay! I booked all 6 tickets. I was worried there wouldn't be enough room. One less thing to stress about. It will be great to all go over together.

So far this is all I have booked. We plan on doing Pompeii on our own and I'm assuming I don't have to get anything ahead of time for that. This is our first time so I can't book DCL tours until April, but Rome maybe the only tour we do through them as we are concerned about missing the ship with so much to see.

Thanks!
Janet

great
I don't think there are advance tickets for Pompeii
I haven't heard of any...
Rome we are doing privately with Rome in Limo.

We have made arrangements for a private tour in Dubrovnik - we are excited to have someone who is local to show us around the city. So with getting those details finalized, I think the planning is done - just need our DCL booking window to open next Wednesday night! I love this part of trip planning!

Love this part of the planning too
Just renewed my DS's passport on Saturday but won't relax until it comes in the mail.
I'm hoping to get to this place in Duborvnik-- Lovrijenac

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...rovnik_Dubrovnik_Neretva_County_Dalmatia.html

 

[MrsScooby]

Do you know if the Secret Itenery include the Bridge of Sighs?

Janet

I have to go check
But it looks like the best pictures are from the outside anyway

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g187870-d191185-Reviews-Bridge_of_Sighs-Venice_Veneto.html

 

[meb51]

My 18 year old son would love to do mass at St. Peter's in Rome. I was thinking of doing the Rome on your own tour so we could do this. We are doing B2B cruises so we will have had a tour of Rome on the previous trip. I know that we would need to be careful about pickpockets but has anyone ever tried this on previous trips or know of anyone who did this on previous trips? I have read that tradition is that the pope appears at noon on Sunday. Anyone else thinking of doing this?

 

[jedipup]

It looks easy enough to get there, just figuring the right amount of time. Let us know if you book it. I think we could all head over early together. You probably want to book it soon. The 10:45 isn't available so only 9:55 and 11:something. Oh, I paid via PayPal, too. Super easy.

We paid via paypal also.

 

[jedipup]

I hope I won't be too late, especially since I think there will be 6 of us. I sent off the email so I am hoping to get the tickets tomorrow. I'll check into the clock tower tour to. Do you know if the Secret Itenery include the Bridge of Sighs?

Janet

Hello Janet,

We did the tour a few years ago. Yes the tour includes the bridge of sighs as to cross over into the prison cell area of the palace.

 

[elm95376]

Hello Janet,

We did the tour a few years ago. Yes the tour includes the bridge of sighs as to cross over into the prison cell area of the palace.

Thank you. I'm looking forward to the tour.

 

[poohmomof5]

First, let me tell you, we have a strange family. And we are very into technology...so this will probably sound weird...

This past Sunday we did a family video conference. Mind you, 5 of us live in the same house, but our 2 sons are in college. One is a Software Engineering Major in La Crosse, its on the other side of the state from us. My younger son has no idea what he wants to major in (he is only a freshman) and is in Madison. So we set up a video conference where they could each log in with their laptops and we each went on a different computer here at home and we could all see each other. It was a dream for me! Of course, since they are mostly teens, they outsmarted the technology, took over my powerpoint, drew inappropriate pictures on the screen etc, but it was a blast! Every time I would look at my 8 year's screen, she would be licking the camera, kissing it, or some other strange thing...

Anyway, my powerpoint was about the cruise and I assigned each of the kids a port to be in charge of. They are booking the excursions, doing a one page history of the port and making sure each of us have fun there and maybe learn a thing or 2 along the way. I was kind of impressed that they were game on an cooperative (well, except for when my oldest son took over my computer and went to the last page of the powerpoint entitled "thank you" and tried to end the call, lol).

So, my little one wanted to take on Venice, I have been sitting with her looking at some websites and ordered her some books. We came across lots of fun looking scavenger hunts etc. I am really excited about the ports we are going to!

That brings me to a question, if anyone is doing some of their own self made hunts or history pieces or anything, could we set up a way to share that? I know there are things like Google docs etc, but I don't know how any of that works. But I would love to share what we are putting together and would love to see what other people come up with as well.

PS, the last long cruise we did with DCL was the Baltic in 2010 and they had really neat activity sheets etc for the kids and booklets on each port. Does anyone know if they still do that?

 

[nzdisneymom]

Anyway, my powerpoint was about the cruise and I assigned each of the kids a port to be in charge of. They are booking the excursions, doing a one page history of the port and making sure each of us have fun there and maybe learn a thing or 2 along the way.

That brings me to a question, if anyone is doing some of their own self made hunts or history pieces or anything, could we set up a way to share that? I know there are things like Google docs etc, but I don't know how any of that works. But I would love to share what we are putting together and would love to see what other people come up with as well.

PS, the last long cruise we did with DCL was the Baltic in 2010 and they had really neat activity sheets etc for the kids and booklets on each port. Does anyone know if they still do that?

What a great idea for your family to be so involved in the planning, and this way everyone gets to do something they like. Plus it's great experience to learn how to do this sort of thing.

I love the idea of a scavenger hunt / history search. Have you googled it? There may be blogs or other sites that have things other families have done to get ideas from.

I remember the books from the Baltic - our kids kept theirs even though they didn't do the activities in them - but for the younger kids, it's a great activity / souvenir.

 

[MrsScooby]

My 18 year old son would love to do mass at St. Peter's in Rome. I was thinking of doing the Rome on your own tour so we could do this. We are doing B2B cruises so we will have had a tour of Rome on the previous trip. I know that we would need to be careful about pickpockets but has anyone ever tried this on previous trips or know of anyone who did this on previous trips? I have read that tradition is that the pope appears at noon on Sunday. Anyone else thinking of doing this?

That sounds wonderful
You can check out an REI store and ask them about travel wallets and such. That was where I got our neck wallets/pouches (they go under your shirt) and a belt wallet/pouch that has a loop for a belt and the zippered pouch goes either inside your pants or in your pocket.
I thnk there are also wallets that can go around your ankle when you are wearing long pants which your son would need for the mass anyway.
A mass at St Peter's is on my list of "must dos" for a future trip to Rome.

First, let me tell you, we have a strange family. And we are very into technology...so this will probably sound weird...

This past Sunday we did a family video conference. Mind you, 5 of us live in the same house, but our 2 sons are in college. One is a Software Engineering Major in La Crosse, its on the other side of the state from us. My younger son has no idea what he wants to major in (he is only a freshman) and is in Madison. So we set up a video conference where they could each log in with their laptops and we each went on a different computer here at home and we could all see each other. It was a dream for me! Of course, since they are mostly teens, they outsmarted the technology, took over my powerpoint, drew inappropriate pictures on the screen etc, but it was a blast! Every time I would look at my 8 year's screen, she would be licking the camera, kissing it, or some other strange thing...

Anyway, my powerpoint was about the cruise and I assigned each of the kids a port to be in charge of. They are booking the excursions, doing a one page history of the port and making sure each of us have fun there and maybe learn a thing or 2 along the way. I was kind of impressed that they were game on an cooperative (well, except for when my oldest son took over my computer and went to the last page of the powerpoint entitled "thank you" and tried to end the call, lol).

So, my little one wanted to take on Venice, I have been sitting with her looking at some websites and ordered her some books. We came across lots of fun looking scavenger hunts etc. I am really excited about the ports we are going to!

That brings me to a question, if anyone is doing some of their own self made hunts or history pieces or anything, could we set up a way to share that? I know there are things like Google docs etc, but I don't know how any of that works. But I would love to share what we are putting together and would love to see what other people come up with as well.

PS, the last long cruise we did with DCL was the Baltic in 2010 and they had really neat activity sheets etc for the kids and booklets on each port. Does anyone know if they still do that?

WOW, wish I could get my family involved like this. I don't have anything like scavengers hunts planned. I do recall seeing a cool book that DCL was selling on their excursion page with regard to things like that in Venice.

 

[gydell]

My 18 year old son would love to do mass at St. Peter's in Rome. I was thinking of doing the Rome on your own tour so we could do this. We are doing B2B cruises so we will have had a tour of Rome on the previous trip. I know that we would need to be careful about pickpockets but has anyone ever tried this on previous trips or know of anyone who did this on previous trips? I have read that tradition is that the pope appears at noon on Sunday. Anyone else thinking of doing this?

We did a mass about 10 years go. It was on Easter Sunday. Don't remember what time, just that I couldn't understand a thing!