May 26, 2007 (5/26/07) "First Magical Med Cruise!!" (The M&M's!)

[kpros]

Half way down page 2! How could that happen?

Ken

 

[winotracy]

Sue, glad to "see you" again! Should I forward the spreadsheet on for the website?

Celeste, Bill likes the kids, he's just always surprised when they like him Give Noah a hug from both of us!

Back to work! Gearing up for the 31st!

 

[sweetsue]

Jen,

Great job with the website!!!

I have a Barcelona shore excursion dilemma. I want to do too much. We're also on the repo so we arrive at 7:00am on the 25th so we get 2 full days in the city. We have 2 kids (DS8 and DD5).

What I'd like to do:

Discover Barcelona and the Spanish Village (8:00am 25 May)
Aquarium and Park Guell (1:45pm 25 May)
Chocolate Museum (1:30pm 26 May)

Science Museum and Maze (12:30pm 25 May)

I can fit in the first three but since the Science Museum is only offered on 25 May at 12:30pm it doesn't work.


Or I could do:

Science Museum and Maze (12:30pm 25 May)
Discover Barcelona and the Spanish Village (8:45am 26 May)
Gothic Quarter City Walk (4:00pm 26 May)

Can anyone tell me how far Park Guell is from the ship and if it is possible to see it on our own on the morning of 25 May?

Bottom line Chocolate Museum and Aquarium/Park Guell vs. Science Museum and Maze. Opinions?

Thanks,

Kathy

Kathy,

Park Guell is a bit further out from downtown - and you'd need to take a bus or cab there. The Aquarium is right at the port (literally). The Aquarium that Celeste is thinking of is NOT in Barcelona - it is the largest aquarium in the world but is about two hours away. A friend of mine went there and said it was overrated - the aquarium in Barcelona is much better.
In all of my research, I don't remember the Science Museum. I'm not sure why. I usually like science museums. If I had to vote, I'd give up the science museum and do the other three instead.

You might consider doing it on your own and forgetting about Disney! Barcelona is a very easy city to get around in. The tourist bus (Turista) is very good and takes you on a circle route to all tourist sites. There are two main routes with a third that heads out to the Olympic Village. The Northern route will take you past La Sagrada Familia (a not-to-be-missed site) and Park Guell among others. The southern route goes by the port, Las Ramblas, Mont Juic, etc. The bus is hop on, hop off. Both routes overlap at the north end of Las Ramblas in Playa Catalunya - so you can transfer. The routes are one way only in a circle. Each route takes about an hour to complete. You can buy a one or two-day pass.
The Gothic Quarter has Sardana (I think I got it right) dancing on Saturday, but I believe that starts at noon. It's been featured on all of our travel shows as a neat thing to see if you are there.

Now if I can only figure out where to leave the luggage between the time I check out of the hotel and the time I want to get on the ship!

Does anyone know if we can dump our luggage off and then go sightseeing? The info I have says we can't get onboard until 1.

Sue

 

[NejTheLion]

It's been featured on all of our travel shows as a neat thing to see if you are there.
Sue

LOL! Who else out there is watching every single show on the Travel and History channel having anything to do with Spain, Italy, or France? Me! Me!

 

[kpros]

LOL! Who else out there is watching every single show on the Travel and History channel having anything to do with Spain, Italy, or France? Me! Me!

We have been TIVOing everything on the Travel Channel right up to yesterday when our cable company took the Travel Channel away.

Ken

 

[sweetsue]

Sue, glad to "see you" again! Should I forward the spreadsheet on for the website?

Celeste, Bill likes the kids, he's just always surprised when they like him Give Noah a hug from both of us!

Back to work! Gearing up for the 31st!

My darling, loveable princess just deleted my ENTIRE message. It included a bunch of cute typing by Christina about how much she Tracy and Peter and everyone! She even picked out a whole bunch of smilies to send.

I then had to translate!

Not going to even try to recreate it! So, I'll let her try again:

ukyktky
alex


yyygkiss
mom
dog
alex
mom
sef

Can you tell she likes a boy at school named Alex?????? I am SO in trouble when she turns a teenager!

I think forwarding the spreadsheet is a great idea! Do we have confirmations on everyone in the spreadsheet?

Sue

 

[sweetsue]

We have been TIVOing everything on the Travel Channel right up to yesterday when our cable company took the Travel Channel away.

Ken

TIVO is my friend!!!!

We've got DirectTV (both Nana and I), so we've watched Samantha Brown, Rudy Maxa, Rick Steves, etc. I even watched some skater-dude show about skate-boarding around Barcelona!

Sweet Sue

 

[kpros]

Hi Everyone

I'm still hoping to find the following people to either get or verify names for the name badges:

disneyfamilyforever
garylpn
Ltl Mermaid
renegade7
Smetheringham

Please PM me.

Ken

 

[sweetsue]

Thanks so much for creating the website, Jen! It makes it so much easier to search through the excursions. I still don't have a clue what we're doing. We've already been to Rome so we plan on skipping the DCL excursions and opt for something locally near port. Anyone have any suggestions on that one? Also, I can't remember if it was mentioned here or on the "All sailings" thread, but I would also like to visit that fortress in Marseilles (Chateau d'If, I think it's called). They show the photo on their website but make no mention of any of the tours going there. Anyone know anything about this? Thanks!

Jeanne,

In all of the guide books I have read, they said that Civitavecchia is a pass-through port. Not worth stopping at - even if you've been to Rome many times before. I did finally find one that mentioned "things to do" in Civitavecchia but I don't have the book anymore to give the details. I vaguely remember a nautical museum. Civitavecchia has been the port of Rome forever so there is a lot of naval history there.

And that's all I remember. Sorry it isn't more informative.

Sweet Sue

 

[sweetsue]

We've cancelled TAP. No way after the reviews we read.

Talked to someone at work who does travel arrangements and he said that it's too early for most travel awards to be open for United. Which makes me feel a little better. I couldn't believe that there were no business class awards available to ANYWHERE in Europe. So, we've got something saved with him as a backup that will hold until May, and we're going to be calling United every day to see if the awards have opened up.

Keeping our fingers crossed

Jen,

First - wanted to say awesome job on the website! I sure wish I had checked here before I gave up and printed out all of the excursions! You've done an excellent job!

I do have some info from travel experts on booking free travel. We used our Delta miles to fly Business class on Alitalia and Air France. The booking for award travel opens up anywhere from 360 to 330 days before the flight depending on the airline. We booked our award travel before most flights were available for sale online - around the 340 day mark if I remember. Even at that time it was VERY hard to find any available business class seats (we were looking for 3 which made it worse). Even coach was next to impossible for the partner airlines. In addition to Delta, we tried every partner airline that Delta has (and there are TONS that fly to Barcelona).

Here's what I found from many phone calls and finally talking to a few airline experts:
They have very few award seats available to Europe at the time we are flying. On average, at the first release date (330-360 days before departure) there are 4 business class seats for domestic airlines and 2 business class seats for partner airlines. The airline can then release additional seats anytime throughout the year. It bases additional releases on bookings, expected travel patterns, the phase of the moon and whether the sky is blue or grey that day! Airlines allow courtesy holds for a few days on award travel. These holds usually release in the middle of the night. For Delta, the first time you could book award travel after the "releases" was when the award travel international booking center opened at 7AM Eastern. The two best times to book are at first release (330-360 days) and 2 to 3 months prior to departure. Try calling each morning until you get what you want.

You can also ask for a supervisor. I was fortunate on three of my calls to get very experienced wonderful associates to work with. They tried and tried and tried any way they could to book my air travel in business class. They gave me many options - but each of them added a leg to the travel so I just couldn't do it (we live near Miami and I couldn't see flying to another US gateway just to get business class travel). Finally, an associate was able to call Alitalia directly and book the ticket MANUALLY before Alitalia opened up it's Sabre online booking for partner award travel. This took daily calls for about two to three weeks to get what I needed.

Persistence is key in business class award travel to Europe! Good luck if you haven't already been able to book.

Sweet Sue

 

[littleowensmommy]

Kathy,

Park Guell is a bit further out from downtown - and you'd need to take a bus or cab there. The Aquarium is right at the port (literally). The Aquarium that Celeste is thinking of is NOT in Barcelona - it is the largest aquarium in the world but is about two hours away. A friend of mine went there and said it was overrated - the aquarium in Barcelona is much better.
In all of my research, I don't remember the Science Museum. I'm not sure why. I usually like science museums. If I had to vote, I'd give up the science museum and do the other three instead.

You might consider doing it on your own and forgetting about Disney! Barcelona is a very easy city to get around in. The tourist bus (Turista) is very good and takes you on a circle route to all tourist sites. There are two main routes with a third that heads out to the Olympic Village. The Northern route will take you past La Sagrada Familia (a not-to-be-missed site) and Park Guell among others. The southern route goes by the port, Las Ramblas, Mont Juic, etc. The bus is hop on, hop off. Both routes overlap at the north end of Las Ramblas in Playa Catalunya - so you can transfer. The routes are one way only in a circle. Each route takes about an hour to complete. You can buy a one or two-day pass.
The Gothic Quarter has Sardana (I think I got it right) dancing on Saturday, but I believe that starts at noon. It's been featured on all of our travel shows as a neat thing to see if you are there.

Now if I can only figure out where to leave the luggage between the time I check out of the hotel and the time I want to get on the ship!

Does anyone know if we can dump our luggage off and then go sightseeing? The info I have says we can't get onboard until 1.

Sue

Welcome Back Sue! I'm so happy to hear that Christina is doing so well! We'll have to plan Tea with Wendy or some such event for Christina, Amy and Zoe, Kelly's daughter.

Thanks for the Barcelona info. Do you know how much the tour bus costs? Can you tell me anything about the Magic Fountains? Are they worth seeing? Are they on the tour bus route?

What shore excursions are you planning in other ports?

 

[sweetsue]

Welcome Back Sue! I'm so happy to hear that Christina is doing so well! We'll have to plan Tea with Wendy or some such event for Christina, Amy and Zoe, Kelly's daughter.

Thanks for the Barcelona info. Do you know how much the tour bus costs? Can you tell me anything about the Magic Fountains? Are they worth seeing? Are they on the tour bus route?

What shore excursions are you planning in other ports?

Montjuic is where the Magic Fountains are. They are in the evening. We're planning on going there one night. I imagine we'll be pretty awake at night with the time change! The tour bus does stop at Montjuic, but you'll have to make sure to get back on the bus in time (the last bus leaves Playa Catalunya around 9pm). Here's a link to pix of the fountains http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/albums-en/magic-fountains-montjuic/index.html.

The bus ticket also gives you discounts at attractions (e.g. 1€ off at La Sagrada Familia). Here is the link to the official website: http://www.tmb.net/en_US/turistes/busturistic/busturistic.jsp.

This is from the website:

Fares 2007

With the two-day ticket you get better in price and convenience: Forget the stress by trying to see everything in just one day

1 day adult: 19€
1 day child (children between 4 - 12 years old): 11€
2 days adult (Must be consecutive days): 23€
2 days child (Must be consecutive days) (nens de 4 - 12 anys): 15€

Neighbors of my Aunt have a daughter that lives in Barcelona. I emailed her quite a few times and she recommended we use this bus (as did others).

Here is a website that has some more detailed info on the tourist bus: http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/tour/barcelona-bus-tour.html. It is a bit out of date though since there's a 3rd route which goes from the port out to the Olympic Village (this is by the beach, not to be confused with the Olympic Stadium which is on Montjuic). I really like some of the details on this website. Here's a very high-level map that gives you a good idea of where everything is in relation to each other: http://www.barcelona-tourist-guide.com/maps/barcelona-map.html. To give you an idea of scale, Las Ramblas is 1.2K or about 3/4 mile long.

We are planning on getting the two day pass. We'll most likely do one route each morning (Northern/Southern). We may or may not do the Olympic Village route. We'll wander around Las Ramblas and the Gothic Quarter on our own in the late afternoon/evening. The chocolate museum is between the Gothic Quarter and the Parc de la Ciutadella. The park has a small zoo and is the only real "greenspace" in Barcelona. Time permitting, we'll wander there one afternoon. Christina loves to dance, so I'd really like her to see the Sardana dancing on Saturday (starts at noon). This is at the church inside the Gothic Quarter, only a few blocks from our hotel.

When you look at the map you'll see that many of the tourist attractions (like the aquarium, Las Ramblas, Gothic Quarter) are all fairly close. As long as the weather is decent, the walk is worth it. Metro and busses are also very, very convenient.

HTH!

And yes - I definitely have CPD (compulsive planning disorder)!

Sue

 

[sweetsue]

Welcome Back Sue! I'm so happy to hear that Christina is doing so well! We'll have to plan Tea with Wendy or some such event for Christina, Amy and Zoe, Kelly's daughter.

Thanks for the Barcelona info. Do you know how much the tour bus costs? Can you tell me anything about the Magic Fountains? Are they worth seeing? Are they on the tour bus route?

What shore excursions are you planning in other ports?

Got so busy with the Barcelona stuff, I forgot about the other questions!

Christina would love to meet the other girls and have tea. She loves to do tea party!

As for the other shore excursions, here's the final rundown (I hope):

At Sea -
Palermo - A Day on the Farm
Naples - Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri for Families
Olbia - Gnocchetti Sardi & Ravioli
Rome - private car tour
At Sea -
La Spezia - Portofino and Santa Margherita OR Genoa, Aquarium & Chocolate Factory (not yet decided here)
Marseille - rent-a-car tour by Sweet Sue
Villefrance - Nice and Eze w/ Wine & Cheese OR rent-a-car tour by Sweet Sue (we'll book the DCL tour and figure it out before we sail)
At Sea -

Sweet Sue

 

[winotracy]

Villefrance - Nice and Eze w/ Wine & Cheese OR rent-a-car tour by Sweet Sue (we'll book the DCL tour and figure it out before we sail)

Sweet Sue

This is the one that we are looking at! Actually looking at three different wine tours (I know, surprise, surprise!). I MUST go to Chateauneuf du Pape in Marseille and we're doing the winery tour in La Spezia. Have no clue what we're doing in Sardinia. Nothing really jumped out at us (that wasn't too terribly expensive).

 

[milestogo]

We have been TIVOing everything on the Travel Channel right up to yesterday when our cable company took the Travel Channel away.

Ken

Jonathan wants to know if this was an intervention?

Yes, we've been watching every show as well then making a tape of the shows then a log of what we like then looking up on the internet. CPD, yep, I've got it too!

A tea party for the girls sounds absolutely wonderful! Can we arrange it or do they offer it on a designated time and day in the navigator? Zoe would love that so much, esp. with the "older"girls.

I'm very interested in this idea of going out on our own instead of being locked into the designated tours. What do we know about renting cars, driving, insurance?

Also, very interested in the magic waters.

 

[NejTheLion]

Jen,

I do have some info from travel experts on booking free travel...

Sweet Sue

Thanks for the info. That's what we're doing: calling when we wake up at 5:30 each morning and checking to see if anything else is available. We do have reservations with our miles for all three of us, but currently, my father will be leaving half a day later on a different flight, and it includes a stopover in London for my mom and I. Not ideal, but it's something. We do have all of us leaving on the afternoon of the 6th, but on different flights. And all the legs are business class, except for one leg on my dad's itinerary within Europe. But we were more concerned about getting the transatlantic to be business. We'll all end up in Barcelona on the 24th, which was our hope. So, we can check in, spend a day there, and then cruise the next day. Also gives PLENTY of time for our luggage to find it's way there. Having nearly had a luggage mishap before a cruise once before (and in FLORIDA), we don't want to risk that in Europe.

It's only about $100 fee to change the reservation, which we will do if something better comes along. All that matters is that we're not going to have to pay!!!

 

[littleowensmommy]

Sue, When do you arrive in Barcelona?

Maybe all 3 families could do the Magic Fountains together on Friday evening 25 May. I'd really like to see the dancing in the Gothic Quarter too.

Sue and Kelly, You've got me re-thinking the farm trip in Palmero. We were plannning on doing Palmero for Kids but the A Day on a Farm tour does sound good too.

We're also planning the Pompeii, Sorrento and Capri for Families in Naples.

We've also arranged for a private tour/car in Rome but the VIP Vatican and Highlights of Rome tour sounds good too...

In Villefranche we may end up on the Nice and Eze w/ Wine & Cheese with you as the Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze tour may overlap the Evening Casino tour that we also plan to do.

In Marseille, we plan to do the Calanques of Cassis tour.

In La Spezia it looks like we'll do the Florence and Pisa tour although I'm not looking forward to 2 1/2 hours each way on a bus with my little darlings.

In Olbia, DH may Scuba dive with Celeste and friends and I'll take the kids on the Day at Sea at Maddalena Archipelago.

I think Kelly is planning to do the Gnocchetti Sardi & Ravioli in Olbia.

We're late seating and have requested the "LAP" dining rotation for this cruise.

I think Kelly is planning to bring a pricess costume for Zoe. Are you bringing one along for Christina?

 

[icunurse_celeste]

I thought I might post a bit about Sardenia-
I too thought that this was the port that offered the least interesting shore excursions. Sardenia is currently not a port that many cruise agencies go to- however this will be changing. The island is in the middle of building a new cruise terminal- which should be completed by "spring 2007" per the website. Hmm, wonder if we will be the first people to be using it?

The island does have some ruins that you can go look at- that I think were built by the greek. (Forgive me if I am wrong, I looked at this a LONG time ago) Although, hear the thing to do is spend time at the beach and see the coast. There is a rock that is famous, because it looks the a bear- and it actually does.

I am currently planning on going scuba diving at this port because it is one of the best sites to dive in the Med- from what I have been able to determine. There is red coral in the region, which is only found here and I had intended on seeing it, but the depth is beyond recreational limits at almost 200 feet. There is supposed to be a large amount of marine life including octopus. There are also a large number of wrecks. The better spots for diving are on the north end of the island near Palau. Palau is 30m from port. In the same town is a ferry which you can take to the surrounding islands- where you can rent bikes. (This is where I tend to grab lunch after diving)

Olbia is described as a dreary industrial town- so you might want to plan on not including this stop as a, "I'll wonder off of the ship and see what there is- that would probably be better reserved for Villafranche. I have contacted the company that owns the port to see if there are rental cars close by. I believe there is one company which is 1.2 miles from the port, but I'm not 100% certain. There are many companies at the airport, but I have yet to check the proximity from the airport to the port.

It is possible to find more information online- just remember that in Italian it is referred to as Sardegna.


If anyone is interested in going diving, I am currently working on this with a well established company. I am just waiting to see what is going on with certification with my friends who are coming...or they may end us snorkeling and I'll be waving at them from below.

 

[icunurse_celeste]

Timing is everything- Char, Andy, and Jennie will be certified by the middle of February!!! I just got a text message on my cell!!

 

[kpros]

Hi everyone - time for an updated name badge list.

baileysgm - Carolyn, Keith, Elisabeth, Bailey
charwac1 – Charlene, Andy
Coalchick - Karen, Doug, Jordan
CubCatsK&D – Kim, Deb
dd3rover - Dan, Sheryl, Nancy, Kaitlin, Brian, Michael
DebWills – Deb, Linda
disneyfamilyforever – Mike, Cathy, Allsion, Megan, Kelly ?
DisneySpirit – Tom, Lynn, Shane, Laurie
figment52 – Sandy, Sharon
first timers - Alex, Carolyn
garylpn – Gary, Karen ?
Hygiene99 – Peter, Jenn
icunurse_celeste – Celeste, Jennie
jeanneg – Jeanne, John
Jeisur – Laurie, David, Breighton, JoAnne, Howard
konslerg - Gloria, Gary
kpros/spros – Ken, Shari
LegalBriefs - Ron, Monica
littleowensmommy - Kathy, Ted, Owen, Amy
Ltl Mermaid - ?
meb51 – Marie, Steve, Beverly, Dora, Katie, Will
milestogo – Kelly, Jonathan, Zoe
NejTheLion – Jen, Debbi, Barry
poconoboatniks – Ellen, Bob, Kate, Brett, Bob, Helen, Linda, Colleen
renegade7 – Johanna, Gary ?
ronunc – Ron, Becky
Schiffy - Mark, Carol
Smetheringham - ?
sunshine state kim – Kim, Todd, Savannah, Carter
sweetsue – Sue, Barbara, Christina
TikiGirl - Leslie, Ed
Winotracy/AskAGeek – Tracy, Bill
wrabitdad – Bob, Dale
plantman - Peter, Joe, Delores
padalyn - Cayla, Barbara, Stacey, Bev

I haven't heard from the groups with a "?". If you see an error in your listing please let me know. Remember, these name badges and lanyards are free.

Ken