June 8, 2011 – Mediterranean

[chris44]

Great, glad to hear you enjoyed this cruise in May. And we're glad you're joining the group for next year!

 

[mickymania]

Thanks for all of the good advice about using airline miles. I haven't been able to fix it yet but it looks like I have lots of options!

Thanks again!!!!!

 

[Zoom]

It really depends on the Airline where you have accumulated the miles. We earn primarily on American and they are pretty fair in opening up 4-6 seats on their international flights 11 months out. Booking is pretty painless provided you book way in advance and are flexible with dates and routing. Also consider alternate airports (on both sides of the ocean) ... it might be worth a drive or train ride to secure the free seats. (We are flying into Madrid and taking the train a few days later to Barcelona.)

Hi! If you don't mind can you give more info on taking the train from MAD to BCN? Can you also share a link for the train website you are planning to use. My DH is kinda iffy on dragging our luggages to the train. I'm sure it is cheaper than flying. Thanks!

 

[JeffPort]

Hi! If you don't mind can you give more info on taking the train from MAD to BCN? Can you also share a link for the train website you are planning to use. My DH is kinda iffy on dragging our luggages to the train. I'm sure it is cheaper than flying. Thanks!

Sure ... There is a USA-based website that provides easy-to-understand information on all rail travel in Europe. We are going to purchase multi-day passes and travel after the cruise, but you can purchase single-day tickets from this site as well. Last year, Spain opened up a new line on their Ave high-speed rail network that takes you from downtown Madrid to downtown Barcelona in about 2 hours. It will be our first time on a high-speed train, so we consider that to be an fun attraction all by itself.

http://www.raileurope.com/index.html

 

[Zoom]

Sure ... There is a USA-based website that provides easy-to-understand information on all rail travel in Europe. We are going to purchase multi-day passes and travel after the cruise, but you can purchase single-day tickets from this site as well. Last year, Spain opened up a new line on their Ave high-speed rail network that takes you from downtown Madrid to downtown Barcelona in about 2 hours. It will be our first time on a high-speed train, so we consider that to be an fun attraction all by itself.

http://www.raileurope.com/index.html

Thanks. That's actually the same website i browsed yesterday. But it looks like taking the train is more expensive than flying

 

[Zoom]

I just want to ask, those who have already bought their airfare tickets, what time are your return flights? looks like most flights coming back to US are all in the mornings, though i read a few trip reports that some were booked and was able to do a 10:45 or 11:00 am return flight, i just want to confirm...Thanks!!

 

[Coach P]

Hey everyone... we just signed up for the Med cruise. This will be our first cruise. Coming will be me (Karl) and DW (Laurel) and Dinlaws... We are really excited about the cruise. Now we are looking for our airfare.

 

[NHdisneylover]

Hello everybody. We are just today transferring another reservation to the cruise. There is a good chance we will be on it but I cannot be positive until we get much close and discuss it with the schools as the kids would have to miss 3-4 days of school.

This would be our 9th DCL cruise and our second DCL Med cruise (we took one this May). We were also on the very first DCL transatlantic crossing in 2007 and will be on a Celebrity cruise out of Barcelona and doing much the same route this November (only 7 nights though).
We did all of the ports on our own last time (even Tunisia) and actually really had a great time and no bad experiences at all. I would be happy to answer any questions if anyone has any.

Anyway, I should introduce myself. My name is Hadley. My husband is David and our two children are Marika (she will be 14 on the cruise) and Rio (he will be 12). We are American, but we live in Germany. My husband works for a German company and he now works at headquarters. We have been here about a year and a half so far, and one of the many things we love about ti is that we can drive to Barcelona to catch a cruise.

 

[mickymania]

Welcome to the new cruisers! It is great to see more people joing us on this cruise.

Hadley - I would love to hear more about Tunisia. I have read a lot of mixed reviews and we are not sure what to do in that port.

Wendy

 

[DopeyFan1966]

HI guys!!! We just put in our deposits couple of days ago!!! it'll be me, DH and DS (10). We are sooo excited!!! I've been reading a lot of TRs and also bookmarking helpful sites like pre cruise hotel stay and excursions.. though i'm getting a little bit overwhelmed with all the infos... We also plan to arrive in Barcelona maybe 2 days b4 the cruise and thinking of going to Montserrat.

Montserrat is amazing. I was there in April during Spring Break. Bring good walking shoes if you plan on doing some of the hiking.

For all you others on this thread. I'm on the 28 May - 8 June cruise, if you go to the link in my signature I have a web page dedicated to our cruise. I have many links to private tour companies and other information regarding the cruise. Some of the information is specific to the 28 May - 8 June cruise (dates, times, etc), but I think you will find some good information there if you want to look.

Cindy

 

[NHdisneylover]

Welcome to the new cruisers! It is great to see more people joing us on this cruise.

Hadley - I would love to hear more about Tunisia. I have read a lot of mixed reviews and we are not sure what to do in that port.

Wendy

HI--you are named after one of our favourite DCL activties

We loved Tunisia--though I know most people did not. We also were some of VERY few people who did not take a DCL excursion (or even prebook a private tour). I had an excursion booked for quite a while, but after doing lots of research finally decided we would be safe and could do our own thing (as we have nearly always done in ports). Here is what we did:

We walked off the ship and continued past all of the taxi drivers at the port until we had walked out of the port gate (pretty early in the day--we wanted to beat the heat; which ended up not having anyway). There we found another set of taxi drivers and negotiated a rate for exactly what we wanted. We had researched what we felt was a fair price and we knew what we wanted to do and we just kept reiterating that we will pay 10 Euros per hour (rounded to the half hour) and had a party of and wanted to go to Carthage and then Sidi Bou Said and planned on needing about 3 hours. Several people wanted to split us into 2 taxis (and charge for both) or take us to the Medina, etc but we kept repeating what we wanted and that that was ALL we wanted until some smart driver stopped trying to "upsell" us and took it We NEVER felt like we weren't safe--but it was funny seeing everyone try to get us to add to the trip (we had warned the kids just to keep quiet and let us do the negotiating).
We went to Carthage first. You have to pay cash to get in and only local currency. The taxi driver (as i had read) offered to pay and have us pay him Euros. He did not give us a straight rate, but it was not much more than normal and was so easy for us it was worth it to "tip" him that bit of extra (DH checked the rate on his blackberry as we were riding). We really enjoyed Carthage and spent about and hour there before heading to the village. Sidi Bou Said was cute (and very clean) and we enjoyed wandering there for about another 45 minutes to an hour.
By then it was getting close to lunch time so we headed back to the taxi and back to the ship.
Outside the ship we paid ten euros for the kids to ride a camel (right there in the port) which they really enjoyed too. All in all a very nice morning for a bargain price (our video of the cruise is linked in my signature and there are many photos from Tunis in there).

 

[chris44]

Hey, it's great to see all the new folks who have joined our cruise! We finally paid off the cruise this month so now we're working on saving up for the excursions, etc. Yay!!

 

[ebony]

We will be on this cruise too.
My name is Jan and hubbie Carl, we are from Oxford in the UK.
We did this cruise last May (x11 night) and really loved it,
so we rebooked on board.

There doesnt seem to be anyone regularly posting on here, is anyone taking a rollcall ?.

 

[pxlbarrel]

Still early days so there's still time to take a roll call. LOL

How are you getting from the UK to Barcelona? We're going to be in London for a few days before going to Barcelona and I'm looking at flights with British Airways and Iberia (or whatever the Spanish airline is called). I had considered Easy Jet but after adding in the baggage fees, I didn't feel I was getting any deals and they didn't fly out of Heathrow (which isn't important going to Barcelona but was important going back since our flight back to Canada would be from Heathrow).

 

[mickymania]

We finally booked airlines. Of course, we had to pay out the nose, in terms of miles, but now I don't have to worry about it. Yeah!!! We are also looking at a post-cruise trip to Venice. Has anyone ever flown on Spanair?

Welcome Ebony!

Wendy

 

[ebony]

Still early days so there's still time to take a roll call. LOL

How are you getting from the UK to Barcelona? We're going to be in London for a few days before going to Barcelona and I'm looking at flights with British Airways and Iberia (or whatever the Spanish airline is called). I had considered Easy Jet but after adding in the baggage fees, I didn't feel I was getting any deals and they didn't fly out of Heathrow (which isn't important going to Barcelona but was important going back since our flight back to Canada would be from Heathrow).

We are flying with Iberia, Heathrow to Barcelona, its a code share flight, so we are actually flying with British airways. The same flight with BA was more expensive.
For our med cruise last year, we flew with BA for the weight allowance and the extra paid weight allowance that you can purchase.

 

[mickymania]

For all those that have done the Med cruise before, what is a safe time to book a flight out of Barcelona if we are using DCL transportation?

 

[pxlbarrel]

We are flying with Iberia, Heathrow to Barcelona, its a code share flight, so we are actually flying with British airways. The same flight with BA was more expensive.
For our med cruise last year, we flew with BA for the weight allowance and the extra paid weight allowance that you can purchase.

Ohhhhhhhh.... no kidding!!!??? I was looking at Iberia and BA....I didn't know they code share. hahaha... I will look at Iberia more closely now. Thanks!!!

 

[nvcruiser]

Hey y'all! Thought I'd better check in! I'm still plugging away at getting paid off... I was laid off from one of my jobs, so I'm trying to see how many extras I can do without in pursuit of something WAY better- Mickey Mouse! Hope things are going well for y'all! Can't wait for it to get here!

 

[ebony]

For all those that have done the Med cruise before, what is a safe time to book a flight out of Barcelona if we are using DCL transportation?

We booked a flight out of Barcelone for 3pm. It could have easily been a few hours earlier.

For anyone who doesnt know, at Barcelona airport, most of the shops are downstairs before you go through to the gate. Its pretty boring if you go to the gate too early.