May Med Magic - May 15 2010 - Meet thread

[jojo6617]

woo hoo all flights hotels booked to and from the uk, now just need to start on excursions, does anyone have any ideas for a meeting time & place may i suggest the first full day at sea?

kind regard
joanne

 

[Jeff Spencer]

What is semi-formal dress? I haven't heard that term in 25 years.

Quite common term on cruises...for men, it's the difference between a tuxedo and suit. For those that wear a suit on formal night, they may only wear a sport coat and no tie on semi-formal night.

For women, per my wife, formal - cocktail dress, semi-formal - nice "Sunday" type dress, or nice pants suit. Similar to the men, who on formal night might wear a suit, women on formal night might just wear a nice black dress versus cocktail dress.

These are suggested dress guides...no one will be refused entry to the dining room or thrown off the ship if they don't dress up.

 

[tripodjw]

woo hoo all flights hotels booked to and from the uk, now just need to start on excursions, does anyone have any ideas for a meeting time & place may i suggest the first full day at sea?

kind regard
joanne

On our 1st DCl cruise, the DIS group met at the sailaway party. This was quite nice but was a little tricky to identify DIS people as there were so many other people around.

1st sea day would be good - I'm certainly planning on having Palo brunch that day (and i imagine so will others) so early afternoon would probably be best. I seem to recall that Promenade Lounge on deck 3 is often quiet (if there's nothing scheduled like a singer)

 

[abdmom]

Quite common term on cruises...for men, it's the difference between a tuxedo and suit. For those that wear a suit on formal night, they may only wear a sport coat and no tie on semi-formal night.

I've only seen that term on DCL

That sounds like regular casual cruise wear on the other cruises I've been on. What do people wear on other nights?

 

[jojo6617]

Hi tripodjw

Promenade Lounge on deck 3 early afternoon sounds really good that will give everyone a chance to have lunch and plenty time to get ready for the evening.

joanne

 

[Jeff Spencer]

I've only seen that term on DCL

That sounds like regular casual cruise wear on the other cruises I've been on. What do people wear on other nights?

Interesting. We've cruised on Princess, NCL, Carnival and Disney and I've seen it on all 4.

I'm just trying to point out you will see a range of dining wear on the cruise. Feel free to wear whatever you feel comfortable wearing. My wife and I enjoy dressing up; hence, I take my tux and a couple of suits and she takes her formal wear and several nice dresses. Other families don't like being so dressy so they aren't. No one kicks them off the ship.

For non-"dressy" evenings, if dinner is in Parrot Cay, I'll wear a flowered shirt along with khaki pants and loafers. Susan typically brings a flowered, casual dress. The point is to go with the Caribbean theme of the restaurant. For the other two restaurants, we typically wear what you call casual cruise wear on the nights that aren't formal or semi-formal.

 

[dawne577]

Booked our pre-cruise hotel today at the Hesperia Tower Hotel close to the airport. Got a decent rate through Hotwire - they have an airport transfer(included) and a port transfer for 10 euros pp. Looking at a DCL excursions in Corsica, Tunisia, Naples and Florence.

 

[ICollectBelle]

Hi all

Hope everyone had a good festive period. Things have been fairly hectic here, my boss's wife has been diagnosed with cancer after 3 yrs in remission from breast cancer, so have been filling in so he can go to hospital appointments and look after the kids. Absolutely gutting news for them, and we're waiting for news on prognosis and possible treatments, but we all have fingers crossed for them i really like my boss and his family - you really couldn't meet nicer folks).

Anyway, i've finally made it onto the Dis so have updated the cruisers list to add the new folk (welcome all!) and to take off those who have cancelled (really sorry to hear about cancellations but totally understand).

Could i ask everyone to check the details in post #2 and send me a PM if they need anything changing or adding.

As we are now past final payment date i'd like to start figuring out if we are going to have an FE exchange. At the moment there's only 2 groups (including me) who've said they want to participate. If you want to join in on an FE, please post back that you want to join in. For anyone who doesn't know what an FE exchange is there's details
It's good fun giving out little treats and even more fun coming back to your stateroom to find little treats waiting for you. You don't need to spend much and is fun for kids and adults alike.

My DH, DD, DD, DS and our DBFFNY are still doing the FE program. Count all 3 rooms in.

 

[bubby627]

This cruise will be here before you know it!! My family and I have been planning everything and all we need is a cheap flight to Europe!!!

My DM, DD, DS, DS, and DBFFNY are all very excited too!

One thing that I can't wait for is the on board pin trading!!! I am the crazy fastpass pin man so obviously I am a crazy pin tradin' maniac!!!

Anyone found any cheap airfare? Like I said we are all still looking.

I'm gettin excited and I already have my dancin shoes packed!!!

HEEEEEEY HEEEEEEEEEEEEY BABAY!!! WHOO HAAA!!! i WANNA KNOOOOOW IF YOU'LL BE MY GIRL!!!!!

 

[pixiedust519]

Like the last 2 posters said (they are my family!!), we are getting so excited. We can book excursions and Palo on the 30th for being Gold members - still trying to decide which excursions to do and which night to have Palo. I just ordered the Rick Steves books for Italy, Rome, and Paris and I'm starting to brush up on my French and trying to learn a little Italian too while I'm at it.

I also bought my cruise purse! I was getting very nervous about the pickpockets so I did some research and went with a pacsafe bag because they have lots of anti-theft options built in. REI has some on their website in the outlet section so they're very affordable, especially for some peace of mind when walking around the ports!

 

[Jeff Spencer]

No cheap airfares that I've seen yet. Discounts only go out into March 2010 so far.

 

[scrap disney]

Hello to everyone!! I just wanted to add my family to the list.
We are really looking forward to this cruise.

We are:
me - Jody
DH - Jeff
DS 7 - Ethan
DD 9 months old (at the time of the cruise) - Piper

We would like to participate in the FE exchange. We did this on our only other Disney cruise two years ago and our son LOVED it!!! The FE exchange made the cruise just that much more magical for him - even my husband and I loved to find the little treats.

Happy planning everyone!

 

[sarahgirl]

Well I booked 1/3 of my airfare as I am going to London after the cruise and I got a good deal on that portion. Now I am just waiting for airfares to go down for the transatlantic flights.

I've been looking at different hotels and I can't seem to decide, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Good thing I have another 3.5 months before I leave.

 

[sayhello]

Well I booked 1/3 of my airfare as I am going to London after the cruise and I got a good deal on that portion. Now I am just waiting for airfares to go down for the transatlantic flights.

I've been looking at different hotels and I can't seem to decide, each has its own strengths and weaknesses. Good thing I have another 4.5 months before I leave.

Um, well under 4 months! Unless you're not sailing in May!

Sayhello

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Back on the evening attire question, Disney offers the following guidance on it's website:

Formal wear for men: tuxedo or suit; for women: gown or dress;
Semi-formal wear for men: suit/jacket; for women: dress or pantsuit.

Dress for dinner at Palo on all cruises:

* Men: dress shirt or jacket, no shorts
* Women: dress or pantsuit

 

[sarahgirl]

Um, well under 4 months! Unless you're not sailing in May!

Sayhello

You are right, I meant to say like 3.5 months. Math was never a strong subject for me.

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Hi all,

I have one slot left in private tours I've set up with Rudy's Touring Service. Joining our family of 4 is fellow DISer Anna (nanaguide) and her husband Carl.

Here are summaries of the three tours I've arranged with Rudy's Touring Service in Italy. Here is Rudy's web site:

http://www.rome-car-tours.com/tours.htm

Here's a link to TripAdvisor comments on Rudy's tours:

By booking three tours with Rudy, he discounted his normal rate in Naples and La Spezia by 50 Euro per tour. Rate for Naples is 500 Euro for 6-7 people. Rate for Civitavecchia is 600 Euro for 6-7 people, rate for La Spezia is 500 Euro for 6-7 people.

For Naples, the tour description is as follows, though it is open for modification as we desire. Note the addition of a tour guide at Pompeii would be an extra 100 Euro:[UPDATE: This Tour is now full - sarahgirl has joined us!]

From the dock of Naples we will drive to Positano (a beautiful fisherman's town on the ocean) and you will have one hour to visit the pedestrian area. After Positano we will drive you to visit Sorrento (a wonderful town up the sea) and you will have time to visit the town and for your shopping. After the shopping you can have your meal on a wonderful (not fancy) restaurant with a beautiful view of the coast.
At this point we will drive you to Pompeii to visit the ruins of the Roman town (if you wish you can have a guide - I can reserve one for you, because only the local guide can tour the site-cost is euros 100.00 for all of you).
After we will drive you back to the dock.

For Civitavecchia, the tour description is below, though again, the specifics of the tour are open for modification as we desire. Note the entrance fees are not included: for the Vatican is 15 Euro and the Colosseum is 12 Euro. [UPDATE: This Tour is now full - sarahgirl has joined us!]

In Civitavecchia you will have me or my partner and driving one hour, we will arrive in the centre of Rome.
On the city we will drive you to visit many different sites such as
The Palatine
the Circus Maximus
the Colosseum
the Roman Forum
the Wedding Cake
The Pantheon
The Trevi fountain
The Roman city walls
San Peter Basilica and more if we can.
The car is full licensed to drive everywhere and anytime you will be beside the sites with me as your driving/guide, without walking too much. (I have a diploma in art and I'm full licenced to accompany you everywhere-when the parking spot is available of course).
We will start the tour visiting the most ancient sites and we will end the tour visiting the most modern.
So we will tour the city concerning the time, talking about the monuments and at the end of the tour, you will know this city, its monuments, its history, its legends.
After lunch time, we will go to the Vatican museum to visit the Sistine chapel and San Peter Basilica.
Me or my partner will guide you inside (you save 120.00-150.00 euros for the guide). After this I will drive you back to the dock. Entrance fees on the sites not included. The service is 9 hours in total, it is on deluxe van full air conditioned.

For La Spezia, the tour description for Florence is as follows, though it can be modified as we desire. Rudy normally includes Pisa in the tour but when we visited it back in 2007, we thought it wasn't worth the extra time just to see the Leaning Tower (not very impressive in person) so we want to spend more time in Florence...either visiting more things there like the Uffizi museum or perhaps visiting a winery on the outskirts of Florence. We can work that out between us. [UPDATE: This Tour is now full - sarahgirl has joined us!]

In Tuscany, from La Spezia port, you can have me or my associate Daniele.
On Florence we will drive you to visit:
the Duomo
The Giotto's tower
the Ponte Vecchio,
The Palazzo della signoria and if you wish, I can reserve for you the entrance on the Accademia museum to see the famous Michelangelo's David.
After we will drive you on the top of a hill to have a beautiful view of Florence. At this point we will drive you back to the dock. During the tour you will have the time for your lunch and for your shopping.

PM me if you would like to join us or have questions. Thanks.

 

[sarahgirl]

I would love to join you Jeff, check out your email and PM.

 

[pixiedust519]

We have also booked our party of 7 for private tours in Rome, Pisa/Florence, and Naples. They sound very similar to the ones you are taking, Jeff! (but from a different company) I think we are going to have the guide while at the Vatican but we're not sure about adding the guide in Pompeii. Does anyone know if it's worth it to have a guide there? I'm going to try to search some old messages on here but figured I'd ask in case anyone knows! If we don't have a guide, do you know how much the audio tour costs?

For anyone who likes Samantha Brown, I just bought her DVD Passport to Europe: France & Italy. Every city that she visits on the DVD is one that we'll visit on the cruise!!! (with the exception of Paris, but we're taking a side trip up there after the cruise, so it applies to us!) It's on Amazon for $7.99 right now.

 

[Jeff Spencer]

We have also booked our party of 7 for private tours in Rome, Pisa/Florence, and Naples. They sound very similar to the ones you are taking, Jeff! (but from a different company) I think we are going to have the guide while at the Vatican but we're not sure about adding the guide in Pompeii. Does anyone know if it's worth it to have a guide there? I'm going to try to search some old messages on here but figured I'd ask in case anyone knows! If we don't have a guide, do you know how much the audio tour costs?

For anyone who likes Samantha Brown, I just bought her DVD Passport to Europe: France & Italy. Every city that she visits on the DVD is one that we'll visit on the cruise!!! (with the exception of Paris, but we're taking a side trip up there after the cruise, so it applies to us!) It's on Amazon for $7.99 right now.

I think the private tour operators all have the same basic touring plan that is tailorable by the guests. One of the things I like about Rudy's tour is that, since he's an art historian, there's no need to pay the additional fee for a guide inside the museum like we did back in 2007.

On the guide for Pompeii, when we toured there in 2007, we used a printed Rick Steves guide and self-toured. We found the main viewing locations that were in the guide but didn't really have background or context for what we were seeing. I've got to believe having a good tour guide inside Pompeii would make for a better experience. As of December 2009, the audio tour was 6.50 Euro for one person and 10 Euro for 2 people.