May Med Magic - May 15 2010 - Meet thread

[nanaguide]

Cruisers, I'm trying to get an excursion planned for our day in Villefranche.There were 3 guides recommended by cruisecritic and Jeff. Michel and Sylvie are booked but the third one is open. His name is Alain Dream Tours. It would be a full day tour. He would pick us up at the port. We would return in time for the special dinner that night - both seatings.

This is the information he sent me:
We work with comfortable mini vans Mercedes with air condition and 8 passenger seats. First stop on the way in Eze village to visit (if you wish) perfume factory to learn the secrets of making perfumes and cosmetics. After that direction to Monaco to visit everything. Walking in The Old town with the Prince Palace Square, the Cathedral. Walking in Monte-Carl and the famous Casino, the Golden Square, the very nice Hotel de Paris. Drived City tour, formule 1 race circuit, beach area. Back to Nice with Panorama, maybe if you wish the chocolate and jam factory, the Old town with the famous flower market, and maybe a free time there to have a lunch. Direction to St. Paul de Vence, walking in the medieval village well known for the presence of artists, painters, stars of show business, and actors. But if you wish, we can cancel St Paul de Vence to visit Cannes to see the Film festival Palace, the beaches and Hotel Palace. Back to the ship. I will help you to choose a restaurant for the "lunch free time", if you wish. If I get 4 more people it will be 75 Euros per person. He is open to changing the places we see if someone has something in particular they want to see.

Please PM me if you are interested in this excursion.

 

[familytravel]

Thanks for all the great information.

We will be staying in Novetal the night before. Thanks to Jeff.

Valletta, Malta: Grand Harbour tour from Sliema, St John Cathedral, hang around IR-Repubblika. (on our own, we spent 10 days in Malta 5 years ago)

Tunis, Tunisia : DCL tour Sidi Bou Said + Carthage

Naples, Italy : Pompeii (on our own)

Civitarecchia, Italy : Rome Vatican, Colosseum, Trevi Fountain/spanish steps, Pantheon (on our own)

La Spezia: Pisa (on our own)

Ajaccio Corscia : undecided. may be just walk around the port

Villefranceh : DCL tour Highlights of Monaco + Monte C

Joti

 

[dawne577]

Jeff - Great website! The info is coming so fast it's nice to have an easy way to reference it.

Ebony - we're doing Rome, Malta & Villefrance on our own. Only using Disney for transportation to/from Florence. We bought Rick Steve's Italy book and DVD for research on Rome.

Does anyone know what time the shows are scheduled for? I have a spa ressie that ends at 6:15 on Day 1 but will cancel if it means missing the show.

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Jeff - Great website! The info is coming so fast it's nice to have an easy way to reference it.

Ebony - we're doing Rome, Malta & Villefrance on our own. Only using Disney for transportation to/from Florence. We bought Rick Steve's Italy book and DVD for research on Rome.

Does anyone know what time the shows are scheduled for? I have a spa ressie that ends at 6:15 on Day 1 but will cancel if it means missing the show.

Thanks dawne577.

The show times are 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm.

 

[sarahgirl]

I am REALLY looking forward to seeing Twice Charmed. I've only cruised on the Wonder (3x) so this will be a first for me. If it is on formal night I will probably be going to eat dinner at Topsiders so that I can watch it twice! Not that I'm bringing anything fancy anyways, I just don't have the luggage space for much.

 

[Jeff Spencer]

We've only sailed on the Magic (3x). We'll finally get on the Wonder when we do an Alaskan cruise in 2011. We really enjoy all of the big shows on the Disney cruises and we're looking forward to the new Villains Tonight! show.

Cool preview video up on youtube.

 

[rashdecision]

Hey guys! I leave on Thursday for my business trip/southern caribbean cruise! Get to compare royal caribbean with DCL. Wanted to add our excursion list. We are using DCL for excursions in Malta (Blue Grotto) and Tunisa (pottery excursion). We are using limo in rome for excursions to Pompeii/amalfi, Rome, Florence/piza. We are using Revolution tours for Villafranche/monte carlo/monaco/eze. I am so excited it is about to arrive! I will try to get back up to speed when I return but keep the boards going. It amazes me to see the traffic on this thing.

 

[sayhello]

Hey, anyone who's staying at the Renaissance Barcelona Airport Marriott, I just read on the May 5th thread that prices went down there. I was able to modify my reservation for May 14th, and got the exact same room for 25 euros less! Just thought I'd pass on the word.

Dinner is at 8:30? Sigh. My GERD is so not going to be happy with me, eating that late. I thought 8:15 was late enough, but it just keeps getting later & later. At least my dinner at Palo is at 6:30, so I can linger & enjoy!

Sayhello

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Speaking of hotels, I booked the Hotel Barcelona Catedral for our overnight stay on 5/26 after the cruise. Rate was 130 Euro/night. By comparison, the same hotel was 219 Euro/night on 5/14 before the cruise.

 

[JoeUK]

Joe - which part of Nottngham are you from? We're Bramcote.

Hi tripodjw, we're from Kirkby in Ashfield about 10 miles from Nottingham city centre, the tram from Hucknall makes it easy though! Thanks for the info about the currency, will just stick with dollars and euros.

 

[peterpanstout]

Hi everyone, We went to Egypt last year and we used US dollars and Euros instead of the egyptian pounds. They also love getting candy and pens! We took a bunch of both. I got a very nice large scarf for about $5 (15 egyptian pounds) and a minnie mouse pen. It was also really fun to give the kids candy. Don't know if it's the same in Tunisia.

For tipping, I have always stuck with one/two euros per person at restaraunts. I was thinking the same for excursions.

Jeff, btw, we are Americans living in Germany (until July!). So you can count us in with the 75%.

 

[peterpanstout]

Forgot...we are doing all DCL excursions because I am finding it easier right now, little boy friendly and because I also want to enjoy our time on the boat. So here is what we are doing:

Blue Grotto Boat Trip & Fishing Village (Mary, Jim, Max)
Tunisia Jeep 4X4 Experience (Mary, Jim)
The Hidden Treasures of Herculaneum (Mary, Jim, Max)
Highlights of Rome for Families (Featuring Exclusive Youth Activity) (Mary, Jim, Max)
Pisa (Mary, Jim, Max)
The Perfumer's Apprentice in Eze (just Mary)

 

[Wavyd]

Hi all,

we are first timers on DCL for May 15th
David (42)
Darin (35)
Stateroom - GTY
Dinner - Late seating

Have excursions booked for Malta and Tunisia. Doing all the others independently.

 

[trampslady]

I'm skirting the problem by taking our one and only DCL tour in Tunisia.
However, from what I've read on cruise critic, people that are doing it themselves get dinars out of nearby ATMs. From what I understand, the Bardo Museum for example only takes Tunisian currency.

That's exactly what we are doing as well!

 

[sleigh]

Hey, anyone who's staying at the Renaissance Barcelona Airport Marriott, I just read on the May 5th thread that prices went down there. I was able to modify my reservation for May 14th, and got the exact same room for 25 euros less! Just thought I'd pass on the word.

Dinner is at 8:30? Sigh. My GERD is so not going to be happy with me, eating that late. I thought 8:15 was late enough, but it just keeps getting later & later. At least my dinner at Palo is at 6:30, so I can linger & enjoy!

Sayhello

Thank you!!! I just checked and my room is 35 euros less.

 

[dawne577]

Jeff - We changed our excursion in Tunisia to the 4x4 jeep adventure. Sorry for the extra work. Thanks for the confirmation on show times.

I like the idea of meeting up at the wine tastings - hope there are enough openings for all of us! I'm disappointed about not getting the Palo bunch but I'll really be bummed if we can't get into at least two of the tastings.

Interesting side note - There is a haunting music that is exclusive to Corsica. At one time it was banned but some locals are holding on to their heritage. It sounds almost like a Gregorian chant sung acappela. My DH purchased some songs from Amazon if anyone is interested.

 

[tripodjw]

Hi all,

we are first timers on DCL for May 15th
David (42)
Darin (35)
Stateroom - GTY
Dinner - Late seating

Have excursions booked for Malta and Tunisia. Doing all the others independently.

Welcome aboard!

 

[tripodjw]

Can't remember if i've posted or not but we are doing only 2 DCL excursions:

Tunis - Medina and Carthage (1/2 day)
Naples - Hike Vesuvius and Pompeii

All other ports we're doing our own thing - mostly chilling in the port area and back onboard. We're heading to Monte Carlo ourselves on the train.

 

[tripodjw]

A reminder, (mostly for all the new joiners)

Let me know if you want to take part in the FE. Sign up deadline is 15 April

 

[Jeff Spencer]

For tipping, I have always stuck with one/two euros per person at restaraunts. I was thinking the same for excursions.

Restaurants are different depending on the country. On the private tours, the bottom line is that a tip in Europe is really a gratuity and not a portion of the payment for the services rendered. Therefore, what ever you give is appreciated.

And welcome to Wavyd!