June 8, 2013 Mediterranean Magic!!

[MrsKP]

They are having a "special" through 1/31 that will allow you to pay by credit card in advance. Handy because you do not need to carry large sums of Euros or worry about ATM's. However, we had hoped someone would join our tour sharing reservation when it got closer to sail date. That is now out. A party of 8 is cheaper than a party of 5 per person. We are looking for 3 to join us. we will be 4 adults & 1 teen.

We are doing Rome Highlights with a personal guide in the Vatican & Colisiuem. The tour info can be found here: http://www.romeinlimo.com/rome-civitavecchia/highlights.htm

In Naples we are doing Pompeii, Sorento & Positano with a personal guide in Pompeii. The tour info can be found here: http://www.romeinlimo.com/naples/pompeii-sorrento-positano.htm

Each tour would be 550 euros. This equals $92.50 per person. The tour guide would be an additional $25 per person.

I am going to book Tuesday night. If you are interested in joining our group on one or both of these tours, send me a message.

 

[Maleficent73]

Hello all! DH and I will be joining you on this cruise. This will be our third DCL cruise, but our first time to the Med. We are leaving the kiddos at home with my parents, so it will be just the two of us. Almost decided to cancel because the local school district voted to extend the school year by 4 days and we couldn't miss our 8th grader's promotion ceremony on 6 June. Instead of canceling, we moved our pre cruise stay in Barcelona to a post cruise stay, and will now be flying in the day of our cruise. VERY nervous about it - had a horrible experience getting to our wedding cruise last summer- bumped from the flight and arrived almost 12 hours later than scheduled. Only made the ship because we were flying into MCO a day early. For this trip we went with DCL air and have travel insurance, so I'm praying it will all work out. Is anyone else flying in the day of? We plan to do most of the ports on our own, except La Spezia - getting DCL transportation to Florence for that one. Bought Rick Steve's Med port book, which is very helpful. Planning on traveling with only carry on luggage, so no FE for us.

 

[DisneyOHFan]

Hello all! DH and I will be joining you on this cruise. This will be our third DCL cruise, but our first time to the Med. We are leaving the kiddos at home with my parents, so it will be just the two of us. Almost decided to cancel because the local school district voted to extend the school year by 4 days and we couldn't miss our 8th grader's promotion ceremony on 6 June. Instead of canceling, we moved our pre cruise stay in Barcelona to a post cruise stay, and will now be flying in the day of our cruise. VERY nervous about it - had a horrible experience getting to our wedding cruise last summer- bumped from the flight and arrived almost 12 hours later than scheduled. Only made the ship because we were flying into MCO a day early. For this trip we went with DCL air and have travel insurance, so I'm praying it will all work out. Is anyone else flying in the day of? We plan to do most of the ports on our own, except La Spezia - getting DCL transportation to Florence for that one. Bought Rick Steve's Med port book, which is very helpful. Planning on traveling with only carry on luggage, so no FE for us.

Welcome to the cruise. I will think positive thoughts for a successful flight to Barcelona .

 

[MrsKP]

Hello all! DH and I will be joining you on this cruise. This will be our third DCL cruise, but our first time to the Med. We are leaving the kiddos at home with my parents, so it will be just the two of us. Almost decided to cancel because the local school district voted to extend the school year by 4 days and we couldn't miss our 8th grader's promotion ceremony on 6 June. Instead of canceling, we moved our pre cruise stay in Barcelona to a post cruise stay, and will now be flying in the day of our cruise. VERY nervous about it - had a horrible experience getting to our wedding cruise last summer- bumped from the flight and arrived almost 12 hours later than scheduled. Only made the ship because we were flying into MCO a day early. For this trip we went with DCL air and have travel insurance, so I'm praying it will all work out. Is anyone else flying in the day of? We plan to do most of the ports on our own, except La Spezia - getting DCL transportation to Florence for that one. Bought Rick Steve's Med port book, which is very helpful. Planning on traveling with only carry on luggage, so no FE for us.

glad you could join us! We have a Facebook page if you are interested

 

[Maleficent73]

Just requested to join FB page, thanks!

 

[simbasmom2]

Welcome!! This is going to be awesome!

 

[simbasmom2]

I have started a FE exchange on our FB page. If anyone on DIS isn't on FB with us and would like to join in on the FE please just PM me: DIS name, room number, how many adults/kids with their ages and genders, special celebrations and any allergies or special info we should know. Thanks!

My gift will be light and wont take up too much space...FYI

 

[Jenniferdr]

Hello all. We will be joining you on the Med cruise!! Can't wait. It will be me (34), DH (37), DD (10), DS(7), parents And brother. Can someone please add me to the Facebook page? Looking to do the FE as well. Thanks, Jennifer

 

[DisneyOHFan]

Hello all. We will be joining you on the Med cruise!! Can't wait. It will be me (34), DH (37), DD (10), DS(7), parents And brother. Can someone please add me to the Facebook page? Looking to do the FE as well. Thanks, Jennifer

Welcome to the cruise, Jennifer. It's great to have you with us.

I have added you to the FB group.

 

[Tod&Copper]

Mega excited

Booked our Palo brunch, Palo dinner, spa reservations and port adventures this morning

Can't wait now

 

[SparklesofHope]

Hello all. We will be joining you on the Med cruise!! Can't wait. It will be me (34), DH (37), DD (10), DS(7), parents And brother. Can someone please add me to the Facebook page? Looking to do the FE as well. Thanks, Jennifer

Welcome!!

 

[SparklesofHope]

Mega excited

Booked our Palo brunch, Palo dinner, spa reservations and port adventures this morning

Can't wait now

How exciting!!!

We have to wait until March--

 

[ame]

Hi! I booked this cruise last year but haven't done much planning til now. Paid in full
On this cruise will be myself, dh and our four kids. Ds1(15 in July) ds2 (13), ds3 (11 in July) and the one and only dd (9).

This will be our 2nd cruise as a family (first one a MR in April 2011) and 3rd cruise for ds3 & I who went to Alaska in July last year for his 10th birthday present. We loved it so much we booked a Christmas mr cruise for last year which was cancelled so we sat in limbo hoping for Europe 2013!!

We are from Sydney, Australia and are flying into Barcelona 5 days before the cruise. We're doing all the ports on our own (except Naples for Pompeii) as dd uses a wheelchair for long distances and disney's excursions aren't very wheelchair friendly for our ambitions we are doing the Greece cruise immediately after this one. Is anybody else going b2b??? Then a night in Barcelona and 3 nights in Singapore on the way back home to winter.

So that's us..

 

[ame]

Hi. Just caught up on the thread. Lucky for me it hasn't been too chatty but I saw the fb group link and requested to join. I'm guessing that's where all the chatting is happening.

Ds3 & I did the fe on our Alaska cruise and loved it! But we won't be doing it on our Europe cruises. We're travelling light with 4 suitcases between the 6 of us (& one will be small for ds3 to pull) to keep airports with 4 kids and a wheelchair manageable.

 

[SparklesofHope]

Now that the PIF date is behind us, let's get this thread going! Thought I would post here instead of FB to help out other potential cruisers.

So where are you all staying pre/post cruise? I've struggled with trying to decide where to stay--way too many choices! I initially booked Novotel Barcelona City, but then thought we are in Barcelona--we need to experience the city! So after the cruise, we'll be staying at Gaudi's Nest--received pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor. Plus they offer a Spanish brunch, paella dinner, and shuttle service if you choose, all for a reasonable fee.

Any food recommendations off the ship?? We're really looking forward to trying churros and chocolate in Barcelona & pesto and anchovies at Cinque Terre. Looking for more ideas...

As you can tell, we LOVE to eat!

 

[Maleficent73]

Hi! I booked this cruise last year but haven't done much planning til now. Paid in full
On this cruise will be myself, dh and our four kids. Ds1(15 in July) ds2 (13), ds3 (11 in July) and the one and only dd (9).

This will be our 2nd cruise as a family (first one a MR in April 2011) and 3rd cruise for ds3 & I who went to Alaska in July last year for his 10th birthday present. We loved it so much we booked a Christmas mr cruise for last year which was cancelled so we sat in limbo hoping for Europe 2013!!

We are from Sydney, Australia and are flying into Barcelona 5 days before the cruise. We're doing all the ports on our own (except Naples for Pompeii) as dd uses a wheelchair for long distances and disney's excursions aren't very wheelchair friendly for our ambitions we are doing the Greece cruise immediately after this one. Is anybody else going b2b??? Then a night in Barcelona and 3 nights in Singapore on the way back home to winter.

So that's us..

That sounds like a wonderful family holiday! How awesome that you are able to do a b2b. I also adore Singapore. Secretly plotting a way to be able to move there some day...

 

[ame]

So where are you all staying pre/post cruise? I've struggled with trying to decide where to stay--way too many choices! I initially booked Novotel Barcelona City, but then thought we are in Barcelona--we need to experience the city! So after the cruise, we'll be staying at Gaudi's Nest--received pretty good reviews on TripAdvisor. Plus they offer a Spanish brunch, paella dinner, and shuttle service if you choose, all for a reasonable fee.

Any food recommendations off the ship?? We're really looking forward to trying churros and chocolate in Barcelona & pesto and anchovies at Cinque Terre. Looking for more ideas...

As you can tell, we LOVE to eat!

We are staying at Novotel city pre cruise. Three beds in each room and a cheap breakfast for the win We wanted to be away from the city central part anyway and it's opposite a large shopping centre with a carrefour so that suits us perfectly.

Post cruise we're going on another cruise and then one night in Hilton diagonal after that one. $260 through Disney as opposed to $360 booking directly.

Food wise, we love going to supermarket and trying new things. Also we just try whatever we can find around, no real planning there from us except for having a supermarket lined up in each country. My kids love trying different sweets

That sounds like a wonderful family holiday! How awesome that you are able to do a b2b. I also adore Singapore. Secretly plotting a way to be able to move there some day...

Yup we are so lucky to be able to swing it and tell the kids (and ourselves) every day! My husband has been in his job for over 20 years so has 6 months long service leave. He's using less than 2 months of it for this trip.

I adore Singapore too, it's one of my favourite cities in the world. I wish I could move there too! We just travel there every couple of years instead

And, my DD was sitting next to me while I was posting last night and she loves your avatar. She had a magical encounter with Maleficent at DL a couple of years ago which has stayed with her & she has a special place for her (for real!)

 

[calmom]

We decided to change this cruise, our eldest ended up having Football practice in June and not August, so had to change sailings. Have fun!

 

[DisneyOHFan]

So is anyone else planning on staying up until midnight next Friday to book port adventures?

 

[SueTGGR]

So is anyone else planning on staying up until midnight next Friday to book port adventures?

I'm think we are earlier since we are on the West Coast but YES!!! I have it as an alert on my computer and we have the excursions already saved. Palo is easy this early, too! This will be our 1st as Gold members
This trip is coming up fast. I feel like SpongeBob...I'm ready, I'm ready!!!