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

[nzdisneymom]

Yes, the app is free, but you still have to pay for the individual maps. I have this app....

The full version is free today - I downloaded maps with no charge.

 

[friedrich2010]

We are doing the beach excursion in Croatia! I have read that the water is so crystal clear, and we are water lovers. Since it's toward the end of the cruise, my family will need some down time. We can relax or be as active as we want for a few hours. A plus is that the excursion still gives a brief guided overview of the Old Town. We are looking forward to it! It is a pebble beach, though. Wonder if I need to pack water shoes or will flip flops be good enough. Another thing to decide.

I would suggest water shoes as flip flops fall off and the pebbles will hurt even when wading in the shallow waters. Learned this in Capri!

 

[friedrich2010]

Took me two days to read this thread! I am new to Disboards and am getting excited for this upcoming cruise.

I'll be cruising with my DH (Carl) & we have only cruised on DCL. I don't think we will ever try anybody else, because DCL is the best!

We absolutely love the Magic as we also cruised for our honeymoon on the Magic. We have been on all 4 ships and enjoy the smaller ones better. Although, I will take a cruise on any of them if my DH agrees to it!

Bonnie

 

[nzdisneymom]

Took me two days to read this thread! I am new to Disboards and am getting excited for this upcoming cruise.

I'll be cruising with my DH (Carl) & we have only cruised on DCL. I don't think we will ever try anybody else, because DCL is the best!

We absolutely love the Magic as we also cruised for our honeymoon on the Magic. We have been on all 4 ships and enjoy the smaller ones better. Although, I will take a cruise on any of them if my DH agrees to it!

Bonnie

Welcome. It took us a lot longer than two days to write it all

Fish extender sign ups are through April 19 so if you are interested, feel free to join in. There are links for joining the Facebook group (not all of us did, we still keep a lot of planning info here) and there are docs with info about who is doing what excursion and what activities are planned.

Although I just looked and you have

 

[DenverVal]

The full version is free today - I downloaded maps with no charge.

Yes, I was a free-(down)loading fool tonight.

 

[MrsScooby]

Good to know - so if I see you there, I won't worry about disturbing you if I stop to chat for a few minutes! Whenever I've passed through the Cove, it's so quiet and you know people are relaxing but you don't know if they are ok to engage in a conversation. I love getting acquainted with new people and I'm looking forward to furthering our acquaintance with all of you!

Definitely stop to chat I know I did avoid someone at Cove Café once because she was so immersed in her laptop I didn't want to bother her For me, if I really want to be alone I have our verandah to hang out in. I sometimes talk too much so feel free to interrupt my ramblings when needed

Great - in fact, there may be a couple of other DH's that would like to take a role in a 4th of July celebration... it sounds like after the 2nd seating dinner that night would be a good time to do it - we don't port in Dubrovnik until after 1:00 the next afternoon, so it's not like we all have a super early day the next morning. Do we want to officially set the time and location? Or???

Sounds great Any time after late dinner is fine for us. We have seen the regular shows so many times we prefer to just hang out in the lounges after dinner anyway. Location is a tricky one. Some place with a bar nearby, that won't have other DCL entertainment scheduled, that is big enough to include anyone who wants to join in... Normally I would say Promenade Lounge fits that but they often have entertainment there in the evenings. It would help to know what DCL traditionally does on the Fourth of July so we could schedule around that.


We got our TSA approved luggage locks today and two more luggage tags that we needed to have one for each of our bags. Everyone has shoes but Nathan still needs an extra pair, and I need to find another belt for DH as Nathan lost his over spring break so Gary gave his spare to Nathan - he wants another like it but we can't find the right size - they have the color in wrong sizes or the right size in the wrong color.

I am planning on getting my guys those pants that zipoff into shorts. Neither of them are excited about this option but I figure they will thank me when we are sweltering in the Med heat and want to enter a church.
Darren and I stopped by a AAA store last week to look around and I wound up buying one of their pacsafe bags. One of their small ones that can be worn with a crossbody strap or looped through a belt and is big enough to hold credit cards, money, ipod, cell phone and passports. They had them in green, blueish purple and gray and I went with the blueish purple one. Probably going to go back and get one for my DD (Kelly) so she has a chance of keeping her cell phone and ipod during this trip.
I think almost every Med trip report I've read has indicated that either they had something stolen from them or had it happen to someone they knew. My family thinks I'm paranoid, but I'd rather take their teasing then deal with stolen items.

 

[rotary2808]

I am planning on getting my guys those pants that zipoff into shorts. Neither of them are excited about this option but I figure they will thank me when we are sweltering in the Med heat and want to enter a church.
Darren and I stopped by a AAA store last week to look around and I wound up buying one of their pacsafe bags. One of their small ones that can be worn with a crossbody strap or looped through a belt and is big enough to hold credit cards, money, ipod, cell phone and passports. They had them in green, blueish purple and gray and I went with the blueish purple one. Probably going to go back and get one for my DD (Kelly) so she has a chance of keeping her cell phone and ipod during this trip.
I think almost every Med trip report I've read has indicated that either they had something stolen from them or had it happen to someone they knew. My family thinks I'm paranoid, but I'd rather take their teasing then deal with stolen items.

I've got a pair of North Face zip off pants. That's what I'm planning on bringing with me. They're capri length and zip into shorts. That will be good for touring churches.

 

[MrsScooby]

One of the June 15th DIS cruisers alerted me to this - thought I'd share it here in case anyone was interested.

The app CityMaps2Go – full version is free today for ipad / ipod.

No wifi needed to use them after you’ve downloaded.

Cool
Thanks

Another option is to take pictures of maps with your phone or camera to take with you if your cheap like me

Hey, that is also considered thrifty and creative

I spend a good bit of free time in Cove Cafe. If you see me don't hesitate to stop and chat.

Me too
Gotta find my Cove Café card before we cruise
Have you gotten their special coffee mug?
I was wondering if that was worth purchasing...

The full version is free today - I downloaded maps with no charge.

Is that for a limited time ? Just realized my ipod is an old version and I need a new one to download this app. Since I plan to use an ipod for some of the downloadable tours I figure it is time to invest in a new one

Took me two days to read this thread! I am new to Disboards and am getting excited for this upcoming cruise.

I'll be cruising with my DH (Carl) & we have only cruised on DCL. I don't think we will ever try anybody else, because DCL is the best!

We absolutely love the Magic as we also cruised for our honeymoon on the Magic. We have been on all 4 ships and enjoy the smaller ones better. Although, I will take a cruise on any of them if my DH agrees to it!

Bonnie

Welcome Aboard
We are all getting excited about this cruise
I'm cruising with my DH(Darren), DS (Andrew-19) and DD (Kelly-16).

Yes, I was a free-(down)loading fool tonight.

 

[MrsScooby]

I've got a pair of North Face zip off pants. That's what I'm planning on bringing with me. They're capri length and zip into shorts. That will be good for touring churches.

I was thinking I'd go with some long peasant-type skirts for excursions, but those pants sound great too (for both my DD and myself)


I have been holding off buying clothes for myself as I am constantly trying to lose weight

Anyone have any easy low cal recipes they like ?

 

[disprincess4ever]

I am planning on getting my guys those pants that zipoff into shorts. Neither of them are excited about this option but I figure they will thank me when we are sweltering in the Med heat and want to enter a church.
Darren and I stopped by a AAA store last week to look around and I wound up buying one of their pacsafe bags. One of their small ones that can be worn with a crossbody strap or looped through a belt and is big enough to hold credit cards, money, ipod, cell phone and passports. They had them in green, blueish purple and gray and I went with the blueish purple one. Probably going to go back and get one for my DD (Kelly) so she has a chance of keeping her cell phone and ipod during this trip.
I think almost every Med trip report I've read has indicated that either they had something stolen from them or had it happen to someone they knew. My family thinks I'm paranoid, but I'd rather take their teasing then deal with stolen items.

How much did one of those bags cost at AAA?

 

[MrsScooby]

How much did one of those bags cost at AAA?

I got it for about $36 from AAA which looks like a good deal because I think this is the one on the pacsafe website:

http://pacsafe.com/slingsafe-75-gii-anti-theft-purse

I got the blue one. Very light and small which is good because I don't intend to take it off until I am in my cabin or hotel room.
We'll also carry a regular backpack into ports to carry larger things like ponchos, water bottles, sun screen etc.

 

[carpenta]

We have been on four Med. cruises so far and never had anything stolen. We traveled on subways systems and buses and so long as you take precautions you should be fine. One tip was not to sling your handbag across the back of your chair on on your knee in outdoor restuaunts.Around Sagria Familia (sp?) there seems to be alot of diversionary type pickpockets who work together where one distracts and the other works. As long as you keep a personal zone you should be fine. But pacsafes have a metal wire embedded in the strap and should be fine. I've always felt quite safe as any large city in the U.S. No worries.

 

[disprincess4ever]

I got it for about $36 from AAA which looks like a good deal because I think this is the one on the pacsafe website:

http://pacsafe.com/slingsafe-75-gii-anti-theft-purse

I got the blue one. Very light and small which is good because I don't intend to take it off until I am in my cabin or hotel room.
We'll also carry a regular backpack into ports to carry larger things like ponchos, water bottles, sun screen etc.

AAA seems like a good deal. I don't know if I feel comfortable taking a backpack into some of the ports. I want to take my new DSL camera into ports with me, but not only is it kinds big, it was expensive. Has anyone else taken a DSL camera into Barcelona or Rome before? I honestly don't know how I'm going to carry it and might just opt to use my point and shoot in those ports.

 

[BellesMommy]

Got our passports in the mail on Friday
Just finished entering all of our port adventures into the spreadsheet on here
Now it's finally starting to feel REAL!!

Any other singles going on this cruise?

 

[nzdisneymom]

As a reminder, the Fish Extender sign-up ends this Friday, April 19th. If you're still an undecided, please be sure to change to Yes or No (we hope Yes!) by then. If you're not sure if you've signed up, you can check the spreadsheet here.

Also check that your cabin number is correct as well as the number of people in your party.

Thanks!

 

[poohmomof5]

Anyone else planning to have dinner in Venice the first night?

We booked a tour with a guide we found on toursbylocals.com, she is meeting us as the ship and then taking us on a tour and then made reservations for us at her favorite place to eat. I am really excited! She didn't tell me where, but we are pretty easy going and we will be in Venice, so we don't really care!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I was thinking I'd go with some long peasant-type skirts for excursions, but those pants sound great too (for both my DD and myself)

I have been holding off buying clothes for myself as I am constantly trying to lose weight

I've resigned myself to the fact that I will NOT lose the weight I had grand plans to lose when we booked this adventure 16 months ago

Your comment about skirts made me think that for women and girls, perhaps go ahead and wear your shorts but have a wrap around skirt that you could just literally wrap around you for going into the churches. Remember in elementary school when your mom made you wear shorts under your dresses because you always were hanging upside down on the monkey bars? Same idea (ok, maybe that was just me!)

Got our passports in the mail on Friday
Just finished entering all of our port adventures into the spreadsheet on here
Now it's finally starting to feel REAL!!

Fabulous - I love gettnig things together.

AAA seems like a good deal. I don't know if I feel comfortable taking a backpack into some of the ports. I want to take my new DSL camera into ports with me, but not only is it kinds big, it was expensive. Has anyone else taken a DSL camera into Barcelona or Rome before? I honestly don't know how I'm going to carry it and might just opt to use my point and shoot in those ports.

If you have other people in your traveling party with you, you could split your stuff so that all you have to be responsible for is your camera - someone else can carry the cash, id, etc., so you can have your hand on the camera / bag at all times. Then you'll be less likely to be distracted trying to take a photo, deal with tickets and such.

We have been on four Med. cruises so far and never had anything stolen. We traveled on subways systems and buses and so long as you take precautions you should be fine. One tip was not to sling your handbag across the back of your chair on on your knee in outdoor restuaunts.Around Sagria Familia (sp?) there seems to be alot of diversionary type pickpockets who work together where one distracts and the other works. As long as you keep a personal zone you should be fine. But pacsafes have a metal wire embedded in the strap and should be fine. I've always felt quite safe as any large city in the U.S. No worries.

You are right - you have to be aware of your surroundings and keep your stuff in front of you at all times - I always feel a bit relieved to get back on the tour bus so I can relax my grip a bit! Have a plan with your group so that everyone is always watching so no one gets distracted / attention diverted, and split up the valuables that you have to carry so if one person does get pickpocketed, you haven't lost everything. Hopefully none of us will have to deal with this at all - but caution is a must.

 

[nzdisneymom]

So today I got Nathan's new shoes and a new belt for DH. Working on fish extender stuff. Looking for shorts for DH - he needs some new ones. I told him that in two weeks we are going to do a count of everyone's clothes to see that they have enough of each type for the trip so we'll know how much we still need to get / want to get. The boys are in pretty good shape since they wear shorts to school all week (yay - they were hating the cold days), but DH and I have to wear business casual to work most of the time, so our vacation-clothing has to be reviewed each time.

The boys have 31 school days plus 3 exam days until school is out for the summer. That's our "count down" we're doing right now - and then as soon as school is out, we just have a week plus a couple of days until we leave.

Are you all bringing a converter for electricity for the pre-cruise stay in Barcelona? We were thinking of borrowing one from a friend so we can charge up ipods / ipad / kindle fires - but then I was reading that these may not need a converter but just an adapter because they are designed to charge off either 110v or 220v - but I'm so tech-challenged that I'm not sure from what I'm reading over on Apple and Amazon. Anyone know or can point me to a definitive answer?

When we were in London, the plugs on the desks in the hotel were standard US style plugs and we were able to use it without a converter or adapter to charge, but I worried the whole time about it. Maybe I should check on TripAdvisor - just thought of that to look there.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We booked a tour with a guide we found on toursbylocals.com, she is meeting us as the ship and then taking us on a tour and then made reservations for us at her favorite place to eat. I am really excited! She didn't tell me where, but we are pretty easy going and we will be in Venice, so we don't really care!

Poohmom - that sounds wonderful! You will have such an amazing experience. We are using a local guide in Dubrovnik and cannot wait for that experience, too.

 

[disprincess4ever]

So today I got Nathan's new shoes and a new belt for DH. Working on fish extender stuff. Looking for shorts for DH - he needs some new ones. I told him that in two weeks we are going to do a count of everyone's clothes to see that they have enough of each type for the trip so we'll know how much we still need to get / want to get. The boys are in pretty good shape since they wear shorts to school all week (yay - they were hating the cold days), but DH and I have to wear business casual to work most of the time, so our vacation-clothing has to be reviewed each time.

The boys have 31 school days plus 3 exam days until school is out for the summer. That's our "count down" we're doing right now - and then as soon as school is out, we just have a week plus a couple of days until we leave.

Are you all bringing a converter for electricity for the pre-cruise stay in Barcelona? We were thinking of borrowing one from a friend so we can charge up ipods / ipad / kindle fires - but then I was reading that these may not need a converter but just an adapter because they are designed to charge off either 110v or 220v - but I'm so tech-challenged that I'm not sure from what I'm reading over on Apple and Amazon. Anyone know or can point me to a definitive answer?

When we were in London, the plugs on the desks in the hotel were standard US style plugs and we were able to use it without a converter or adapter to charge, but I worried the whole time about it. Maybe I should check on TripAdvisor - just thought of that to look there.

It might depend on the hotel. I'm thinking maybe the bigger American based hotel chains might have standard US plugs.