May 5, 2010 Magic of Barcelona

[sabrecmc]

I see on the DCL website that it says I can begin to book excursions on Feb. 4, 2010. I assume that means that descriptions will be available at least by early January 2010.

 

[stingmom]

We just booked yesterday!! 3 kids (14, 12, 11) and my dh and me!! We have NEVER sailed in our lives! But couldn't pass up this opportunity..money will be tight, does anyone have ANY idea how much to budget for excursions for a family of five? Am I crazy to think we can fly in the morning of the cruise?? I figured we'd just walk on the ship and crash...

Can't wait to get to know each of you! My kids are soo excited, we homeschool and now we're devoting our history/reading to this area! So cool!!

Tara

Hi Tara! Our kids will be 14(DS) & 11(DD) when we go too! We should get them together! You can fly in the morning of. We took a red-eye direct from Newark to Barcelona last May. We got in about 9am and went straight to the boat to crash. Bset thing we ever did since we were not sure what to expect. Next time, we will take in the city some before we go onto the boat. The little bit we did see was beautiful, so we will do the "hop-on, hop-off" tour bus before we get on the Magic. The kids slept the whole way and did not suffer any jet-lag. Looking forward to meeting you!

 

[sabrecmc]

If you decide to fly in the morning of the cruise, I would definitely have trip insurance. It wouldn't be any fun to have to chase the ship to Malta, lol. If you can fly in a day early, Barcelona is a beautiful city and it is nice to be able to rest a bit beforehand and adjust to the time change, though I realize that sometimes schedules make that impossible.

We're actually flying into Barcelona from Venice. We're going over a week early to visit Disneyland Paris and Venice before the cruise. My daughter will be 4 at the time of the trip, so I want to make sure she has a good time and isn't dragged from one church to another!

 

[lmhall2000]

stingmom!! YEAH!! I am so excited your kids are the same age! I hope we get to meet you the first day!

Sabre, uh, be careful...you might just find 5 stowaways in your luggage going to Disneyland!! We have always wanted to do that!! How fun is that! That was our biggest drawback to this cruise, no fun rides!! We are SOOO about the rides But, we homeschool and the kids had so much fun on our tour of England 3 years ago that they all agreed they'd love to see Italy...I'd probably prefer a diy tour on land, but I'm nervous about taking 3 preteens in countries I'm not that familiar with...I had done England before so it was easy peasy driving and all that.

Hope to meet you all and we're planning our fish extenders now!
Tara

 

[DCLunatic]

Hi all!

We (me and DH) are considering this cruise. We are going on our 2nd Disney cruise in a month, and hopefully we'll book it while onboard. I'm scared to bring my then-21-month-old child on such a long trip, but every trip so far has been so much fun! Lemonbee, your baby might have a baby friend on the trip!

 

[sabrecmc]

Sabre, uh, be careful...you might just find 5 stowaways in your luggage going to Disneyland!! We have always wanted to do that!! How fun is that!

I'll be sure to check our bags for extra weight!

I've actually been to DLP once before, back in 1995. I was studying in London and took a long weekend to go over there before exams. Then the entire country of France went on strike. Seriously. Ok, really it was just air and rail, but that was my way out! British Airways ended up bringing in their own air traffic controllers and I managed to catch a red eye to London in time to get the first Heathrow Express back to central London and rush to take my exams. So, having some experience with bizarre things happening in European travel, there is just no way I'd arrive the day of the cruise, lol!

DCLunatic, I hope you and your family decide to come aboard. Our thread is so tiny...I'm wondering how full the ship will be! Of course, I imagine there will be quite a few Europeans on the trip.

 

[DCLunatic]

Okay, it's official. We will be booking this onboard in less than a month!

I definitely want to do the Fish Extender (FE) thing. It sounds like fun. We'll be doing it for the first time on our Halloween cruise. Since we end up strolling around with baby a LOT, dropping off treats will give us something to do while strolling!

Even though we couldn't participate in everything onboard back in March, I still thought it was the best vacation I ever had. I think there is a particular mindset that Disney lovers have, and it's a great personality-type to be surrounded by on vacation.

I have to convince DH that we shouldn't fly to Spain the morning of the cruise.

 

[fitnessmouse]

I'm wondering how full the ship will be! Of course, I imagine there will be quite a few Europeans on the trip.

European family here! We're going by car as DH hates to fly. Does anyone know where i can find out how much parking at the port costs?

 

[lmhall2000]

fitnessmouse! Welcome!! My dear friend grew up in your country! I tease her all the time because now she's part Dutch/part Alabamian, the accent is quite the hoot!! I can't master those hard "H's"!

There is a thread on one of the stickies that is all things mediterranean, I wish I knew how to link but I remember seeing the port information on there. Maybe some more cleverer disboards guide can post the link for you here!

I just started sewing our fish extender, I am NOT a sewer, so it will definitely look homemade!! I'm not sure if we can use this thread as fish extender list or start a new one...but for future boarders..mention if you're interested and I'll see if we can't get a thread started for us!

I changed our cat 4 to two cat 12's so we could take my parents with us...I was shocked they would go, but they took us up on it!! Sooo excited!!

Tara

 

[lmhall2000]

just subscribing so I don't miss new families!!

Sail away!!
Tara

 

[lmhall2000]

I'm starting a fish extenders thread for this sailing. For any that are new to FE..they are 'pockets' you make and hang around your fish decor outside your room. Those who wish to participate then bring a trinket/token/item to give to those who participate...some bring something from their hometown, make magnets, candy, anything to keep it fun for the kids. When they return to their room they check their pocket and find special gifts.

If you are interested follow the link below and sign up..I'll keep a running list of names/cabins when they're assigned. Thanks!!

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=34044564#post34044564


Tara

 

[DCLunatic]

What a bummer. I was already getting so attached to you all, fish extender and all. Poo.

We are rescheduling for the end of May Mediterranean cruise.

I wish you all safe, and fun-filled travels!

 

[lmhall2000]

We will miss anyone named DC Lunatic! Have a great voyage and hopefully we can bring back some great excursion tips for you!

Tara

 

[sabrecmc]

Did everyone see that article about excursions that was posted in the main forum? It sounds like the excursions are more ABD type things, which is awesome. I was kind of concerned after reading some of the 2007 reviews. For example, they are visiting a Berber village in Tunis, which sounds really cool.

Makes me want to go on the Baltic trip though...a ball in the grand ballroom at Catherine's Palace? Wow.

 

[lmhall2000]

I read it! Sounds really amazing, I'm just more concerned about the $$$ for all these excursions! I'll probably plan all ours on our own...I just bought the Fodor port excursion book and Tunis isn't even in there...so it may be some trial and error having this be the first stopping there???

Can't wait!!
Tara

 

[DisneyCrowd]

we just booked this cruise and are very excited about it! We have 2 boys 5 (will turn 6 just prior to the cruise) and 7. we have not told them yet, i am thinking I may tell them for Christmas, I considered waiting until Easter but I am too excited to wait until then to tell them. Anyone else with kids of similar age? I also want time to look at books on the Mediteranean with them before we go. Anyone have any suggestions of books on the ports we will be visiting that would be appropriate for that age? It is our first time on a Disney cruise but they have been to both Disney World and Disney Land several times and they love it! They are going to be so excited!

I am really interested in learning more about these fish extenders!

 

[sabrecmc]

Hi DisneyCrowd! Welcome aboard. My daughter will be 4 on the cruise. This will be her second Disney cruise. We had a blast on the 3-night "trial" cruise we did in September. I'm sure your family will love it. I have a book ordered, "Mediterranean by Cruise Ship," from Amazon. It included Tunisia, which is a bit hard to find much on.

I'm thinking we probably won't do the fish extenders. I'm lazy and just don't want to haul stuff around with me. We are going to Disneyland Paris and doing Italy on our own for a bit before the cruise, so that would mean carting stuff around for a while. I think I'm just going to have to skip that this trip.

 

[keaster]

This will be our 3rd DCL cruise...we did the Western Caribbean in February/09 (and booked the med on that one with the 20% off and $400 obc), and then DH and I did a three night Bahamas on the Wonder in September/09 as our $99 bounceback, and we are hooked!

We will be sailing with our DD who will be 7 when we go...so we'll be looking forward to meeting other families with kids her age!! We're also flying from Toronto, so if anyone else is heading from Canada, let me know what kind of airfare deals you're finding!

We also plan on rebooking while onboard, most likely something on the Dream for 2011.

 

[sabrecmc]

Got a notice in the mail today that they are switching the Ajaccio and Villefranche days due to a change in the date of the Monaco Gran Prix (so as to avoid those crowds interfering with their planned excursions, it said). No biggie to me.

I think we're going to end up doing a night before and night after the cruise at the Hilton Diagonal Mar...anyone else? It looks nice and is right by the hop-on-hop-off bus stop and across from a mall with a decent food court area. I'm still debating between that and the Le Meridien, but I'm not sure I really want to be on Las Ramblas, quite frankly. I'm turning into such an old fogie.

 

[lmhall2000]

sabre!

I'm really hoping we get the flight in on the morning of the cruise, but if it fills up we'll have to stay at a hotel...with 7 in our party, I figured that would mean 3 rooms and OUCH! What a $$$ crunch! If we are needing to stay the night before then I'll check out those hotels...if I'm going to pay I want the kids to have a really nice pool...they LOVE pools and the cruise ship's pools are kind of meek...

I got the notice, too...I don't know if being in Monte Carlo the day before the Grand Prix is really going to be that much better! If the grand prix is as big as college football down here, the day before is when the crowds are bumper to bumper!! Hmmm.....thanks for listing those hotels I'll go check them out..I really like tripadvisor to get a good feel for the accomodations...thanks!!

Tara