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

[sweetsue]

As I'm waiting on hold to talk to DCL - I told Shari that what they will say is that there was only 1 spot available on those excursions. So when I finally get through and explained the situation, the nice DCL CM said "It was very busy last night and there was probably only one space left".

So anyway - she talked to a supervisor and got me on the excursions. I wonder if Shari really wanted to do those excursions by herself.

This time DCL came through with some customer service.

Ken

Hurray! I'm glad you actually get to GO on the excursions!

Sue

 

[kpros]

This is what we ended up with:

Palermo - Mysterious Palermo
Naples - Mt. Vesuvius Hike and Pompeii
Olbia - Moon Valley
Civitavecchia - Disboarders Invade Room
La Spezia - The Celeste Tour (Hopefully)
Marseille - Castellet & Wine Tasting
Villefranche - Monaco, Monte Carlo and Eze

Ken

 

[misseulalie]

Called DCL about Brunch. I told her how is it possible that all the ressies for brunch gone in 5 minutes? At first she said there wasn't brunch offered on this sailing. I told her there is as others have it. Then she told me to be lucky I was able to book the Tea as both are equally popular...

I know a lot of us were up at 3am, but enough to book all brunch ressies by 3:05am?

What happens to those people who are at 75 days or don't have a computer? They should release a few reservations at a time. Maybe 5 every other day. So people who don't know to get up (or want to) can still get Tea or Brunch.

Sorry for complaining....just tired from waking up in the middle of the night!!!

 

[Hygiene99]

Is there anybody on here that it is a FIRST cruise?

 

[NejTheLion]

Sadly, we too were not able to book anything Palo beyond dinner on the first sea day. But you must also remember that they don't open everything up online. DCL does save a number of reservation times for booking onboard. This could simply be a rare instance where every single concierge guest booked brunch and tea and ate up most of the online availability.

As far as Barcelona goes, after being told several times that the excursions I wanted to do prior to embarkation must be full, I finally got the REAL answer. May 25 and Aug 19 excursions are intended for transatlantic guests (which is what I figured since Barcelona is a port day for them). You may be able to add on to those once you arrive at your hotel. Check with the excursion desk there.

If you are staying at a Disney-booked hotel prior to the cruise, you can do excursions that say "One Day Prior," "Two Days Prior," etc. But you can't book them online. Only "Embarkation Day" excursions are available to us on the website. You need to call the excursion company directly for anything prior. Here's the info:

Phone: 0034902102877 (don't forget your intl extenstion if necessary)
Email: barcelonaexcursions@ultramarexpress.com

This is the vendor Disney is using in Barcelona. I would have been surprised if this HAD been available online since it would have required cross-checking to confirm your pre-cruise stay, and that seemed kinda complicated for the website. (I know it can be done, but DCL doesn't always do complicated computer things well, as we've all seen)

We're probably just going to do our own excursions in Barcelona anyway, but wanted to share the info in case anyone else needed it. We usually stick with DCL excursions for the simplicity and safety of getting back to the ship, but we have more flexibility in Barcelona.

Here are the other things we have booked:

Palermo: Erice and Segesta
Naples: Timeless Pompeii and the Flavor of Sorrento
Olbia: Gnocchetti Sardi and Ravioli
Civitavecchia: Jumping Back into Eternal Rome
La Spezia: Wine Tasting and Sarzana
Marseille: Chateau Neuf Du Pape and Avignon
Villefranche: Nice and Eze with Wine and Cheese

Plus all our spa appointments on sea day mornings.

Jen

 

[winotracy]

Jen, looks like we will be doing our last three excursions together Gotta love the wine excursions!

 

[padalyn]

I deleted this

 

[padalyn]

Is there anybody on here that it is a FIRST cruise?

I am am B2B er...is that what you are asking?

 

[Hygiene99]

I am am B2B er...is that what you are asking?

Well - Im just wondering If this is the first time for someone on DCL?

That would not be able to book until 75 days out!



Please dont tell anyone about this!!!

 

[figment52]

I thought brunch and tea was only offered on sea days. IF that is the case we don't have many of those and they would fill up quickly. I don't know if DCL plans it that way or not but whenever I have been in Palo for either of those it is only 1/2 full so that would limit available reservations as well.

I decided against the made dash at 3AM and still got what I wanted at 6:30 this am.

 

[milestogo]

Ken, I'm so sorry you had another rough night! I'll tell you what... I'd let Shari do the booking from now on... it seems they like her better

It sounds like several of us will be making ravioli. I booked that exc. first as that is the one I'm most excited about. I really want to do Mysterious Palermo, but I've been told by several people not to take our 4 year old, so we booked the Ballaro Market (since we're all about food!)

Our anniversary is May 27th so we wanted Brunch that day... but could only get dinner at 6pm. I now realize that is our Animator's day. Did anyone get a ressie for brunch who wants to trade for our dinner? Hopefully they open up the reservations and we can switch.

 

[icunurse_celeste]

I got pretty much everything I wanted, except I couldn't find any massages around 9pm like they had last cruise. I was able to get a high tea and a dinner on Olbia night. I would list my shore excursions, but I will probably end up changing them around. Last cruise I booked all DCL stuff and then I found better options and then I cancelled most of my DCL stuff.

We'll see what happens.

Overall, I didn't have issue with booking.


Don't worry Ken, the Celeste tour will happen.

 

[jeanneg]

Several pages back someone asked about the T-shirts from Cafe Press. I ordered the better quality hanes T-shirt and it is generously sized. If you are between 2 sizes and don't like them too loose, I would go with the smaller size. I may be the only one who got the T-shirts in lime green, but I love them!

Right now I am listening to my Andrea Boccelli CD's to get "in the mood". Now that excursions and Palo are out of the way, I can really relax and get excited.

BTW, they DO save ressies for the embarkment day scramble. As long as you get on the line fairly early you should be able to get something.

 

[ronunc]

We managed to get the excursions we wanted and Palo brunch and dinner. Took about 20 minutes. On closer examination, one of our excursions ohad only my DW listed. It was for the same day as our Palo Dinner, which had my name listed.
A call to DCL and a nice talk with Laura and she (and her supervisor) added my name to the excursion. It was another of those glitches.

Barcelona: 23-26 May, on our own. Grand Marina.
27 May: At sea. Wine and cheese at 1300.
Palermo: Mysterious Palermo
Naples: Amalfi Coast & Pompeii
30 May Olbia: Costa Smeralda and dinner at Palo's
Civitavecchia: In the Footsteps of Caesar
01 June at sea: Palo Brunch
La Spezia: Portovenere
Marseille: Marseille & Historic Santons Figuerines
Villefranche: Monte Carlo on our own.
5 June at sea: open
6 June: home...

 

[Ltl Mermaid]

We got everything we wanted...here are our plans:

Barcelona:
Panoramic Tour of Barcelona

Sicily:
Sellinunte and Marinella


Naples:
Mt. Vesuvias Hike and Pompeii

Sardinia:
Day at Sea at Maddelena Archipelago

Rome:
Highlights of Rome and Vatican Museum
Palo Dinner at 7:30pm

Florence/Pisa:
Florence and Pisa

Marseille:
Marseille City Tour

Villefranche:
Nice and Monace


I hope we are on a lot of the same excursions as you guys!!!

 

[renegade7]

Day 0 - Barcelona, Spain - Saturday, May 25, 2007
Hesperia Presidente Hotel
On Own - ON/OFF Bus

Day 1 - Barcelona, Spain - Saturday, May 26, 2007
On Own - ON/OFF Bus
5:45PM 6:35PM - Well Being Massage

Day 2 - At Sea - Sunday, May 27, 2007
1:00 PM - Wine Tasting

Day 3 - Palermo, Sicily - Monday, May 28, 2007
8:15AM 12:45PM - Palermo and Ballaro Market
7:00PM 9:00PM - Palo Dinner

Day 4 - Naples, Italy (Pompeii) - Tuesday, May 29, 2007
8:15AM 5:15PM - Timeless Pompeii and the Flavor of Sorrento

Day 5 - Olbia, Sardinia - Wednesday, May 30, 2007
9:00AM 3:00PM - Gnocchetti Sardi & Ravioli

Day 6 - Civitavecchia, Italy (Rome) - Thursday, May 31, 2007
7:15AM 5:45PM - Ultimate Rome Experience

Day 7 - At Sea - Friday, June 1, 2007
8:00AM 9:15AM - Elemis Aroma Stone Therapy
11:30AM 1:30PM - Palo Brunch

Day 8 - La Spezia, Italy (Florence, Pisa) - Saturday, June 2, 2007
7:45AM 6:15PM - Florence and Pisa

Day 9 - Marseille, France - Sunday, June 3, 2007
8:30AM 5:00PM - Chateau Neuf Du Pape and Avignon

Day 10 - Villefranche, France (Monte Carlo, Cannes, Nice) - Monday, June 4, 2007
8:30AM 1:00PM - Nice and Eze with Wine and Cheese

Day 11 - At Sea - Tuesday, June 5, 2007
8:00AM 8:50AM - Well Being Massage
3:00PM 4:00PM - Palo High Tea

Day 12 - Barcelona, Spain - Wednesday, June 6, 2007
? - still up in the air

 

[Yensidfan]

Hi Celeste,

We want to go to Pisa and go up the tower and also see David.
We tried to get the VIP Pisa tour but it was all booked at 3:00am when we signed on. We would also like to see David but not do the DCL tour which seems long and highly priced. There are 4 of us. Can you tell me who you are using for your private trip? 100 Euros PP isn't badf. It would be great to be picked up at the Port and go to spots you like and not have to figure out the trains. We are planning on doing the train thing in Rome.

Thanks for the info!!

Faith

I can't take the train from Florence, DCL isn't going to let me get off of the ship in Rome. It's a long, long story and I'm finally going to give up...I have so, so many things in my life that need me attention right now.

I regards to Pisa/Florence- I am going to book a private trip with some of our fellow disers that will take us to Florence and then to Pisa via private car. It costs less than 100 Euro per person and it will allow us to see the David and the tower @ Pisa. I don't know why DCL didn't offer something like this? For the driver and getting back and forth- the money is worth it to me. I also think we will get around faster via vehicle than we would be bus or train.


You can't get prices or book tickets on Trenitalia until 60 days prior. To get an idea of prices, go to the same day of the week, a month from now. The price for a train from Florence to Rome or vice versa was between 33 E and 56 Euros depending on if you went second class or business class.

 

[winotracy]

DISboarders Invade Rome!!​

Come join us on a train ride to Rome !! Details to follow once we have a group. For those worried about missing the boat, my plan is that we be back to the ship before sunset. The way if we have any problems, we have some time to work it out.

Possible participants:

Winotracy
Milestogo
Hygiene99
Jeanneg
kpros/spros
sunshine state kim
yensidfan

Come one! Come all! Am I missing anyone??

 

[Jeisur]

I was even able to book my in-laws who have never sailed before, I guess they link them to us.

How were you able to do this? We have in-laws traveling too, in a different room, and can't seem to get it to accept them. HELp!

Kinda peeved about the whole Palo thing. We got dinner reservations but had no luck on tea or brunch. We were told midnight eastern we could book, we tried to no avail. Got up this morning early and tried again. Just no Palo luck... guess we have to wait in that fun line when we get on the ship!

Oh well!

-Laurie

 

[Jeisur]

Getting excited?? WOOPIE! We are all pins and needles now that the excursions, Palo and Flounder Reef are booked. With the exception of the HUGE line to stand in when we get on the ship and wait to try to get Palo Brunch and High Tea... and reserved MORE time in the nursery!

Here is what we ended up with!


m-Palermo, Sicily (my Bday)
Palermo & Ballaro Market

t-Naples, Italy
Magnificent Naples

w-Olbia, Sardinia
Train to Gallura

r-Civitavecchia, Italy
Port on our own

f- at sea (hubby's Bday)

sa-La Spezia, Italy
Lerici Castle & Dinosaur

su-Marseille, France (Our son turns 2!!!)
Panoramic Tour of Marseilles

m-Villefranche, France (Nice, Monte Carlo, Cannes)
Nice and Eze with Wine and Cheese

t- at sea

w-Barcelona, Spain
on our own