May Med Magic - May 15 2010 - Meet thread

[Jeff Spencer]

I just thought it'd give us more time at some of the ports...

Late seating definitely worked out that way for us. There were quite a few times when we would not have been back in time for an early seating.

 

[AppleGuy]

tripodjw

Change the room status of friends of ICollectBelle to Cat #13 GTY--they couldn't resist the great price either.

Those of you wanting to meet in one of the lounges, I still would suggest Diversions on Deck 3 forward. Plenty of room with TV's, a few games, and great windows for watching the Med go by. If Rudolfo is tending bar, even more reason to go. Also have evening nachos, hot dogs, snacks, and dips--more food to fill you up before late seating dinner.

Final payment 1 month from tomorrow

Gary--Apple Guy

 

[AppleGuy]

Sorry--should be a Cat #12--not #13. That might be in one of the life boats!!

Gary

 

[hawky7]

LOL I saw that and was like wait...when did they add another catagory! HA!

 

[tripodjw]

Sorry--should be a Cat #12--not #13. That might be in one of the life boats!!

Gary

heck i'd take alifeboat just to be on the ship

 

[tripodjw]

to all the new joiners. I went away on work for a few days and came back to 6 new DISers on board, which is obviously brilliant news.

I shall update the cruise list shortly, it was a late! night last night "networking" and i only got 3 hrs sleep, tho at least as a non-drinker i don't have to worry about a hangover as well as a lack of sleep.

 

[abdmom]

Add us to the list - Cathy (46), ds14, dd11, ds4. Couldn't resist that cat12 GTY! We've got early seating. We've never been on DCL before. I'm kind of nervous about not being able to book shore excursions until 75 days out. For all of you who can book earlier, please leave us some good ones!

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Hi Cathy,

On the shore excursions, our family typically books private tours as we've found them to be better value for the price, more comfortable and we are able to tailor our itineraries around things we want to see. My wife, daughter and I did the Disney Med cruise back in 2007 and captured our experiences in our blog linked below. You can get an idea of the kinds of things we were able to do via private tour versus the Disney provided tours. We did take two Disney tours on our 2007 cruise. We liked one and didn't care for the other whereas we loved all of our private tours.

 

[abdmom]

I'm going to book 2 or 3 private tours. However, as a widowed mom with 1, 2 or 3 kids on an excursion, I kind of prefer to be with a larger group. I woke up this morning with the heebie jeebies about being the only adult on a private tour. Talked myself out of it though. For me, the comfort level in having a group tour is worth more than seeing exactly what I want to see.

Thanks for sharing your blog!

 

[Jeff Spencer]

You might try adding another DIS board family to your tours for peace of mind as well as making the tours more economical. On each of our tours we had from 1 to 4 other DIS boarders with us, which turned out to be great as we got to meet and spend time with some really great folks.

 

[Foo Family - Canada]

Hello,

Our children are:
Jacqueline - age 8
Matthew - age 4

This is our first trip to the Med as a family.
I am a huge history fan and would love to join any arranged private tours to any of the ports of call rather than join the pre-arranged excursions.

Also, does anyone have suggestions for a hotel in Barcelona. We are arriving 1day prior and some of the hotel rates suggested by Disney concierge is running ~ $1,000/night for a family of 4!

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Hi Foo family,

We're booked in the Regencia Colon (two rooms) for this trip, just as we were for our trip in 2007. Here are links to the hotels website as well as its reviews on Tripadvisor.com. Two rooms were 270 Euro total via booking.com.

Hotel site:

http://www.hotelregenciacolon.com/eng/hotel/index.asp

TripAdvisor Guest Comments:

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Review-g187497-d229681-Reviews-Regencia_Colon_Hotel-Barcelona_Catalonia.html

 

[abdmom]

Hi Foo Family

I'm in T.O. and have a ds4 too! Send me a PM and we can discuss sharing private excursions. I've been in touch with someone in Rome and Naples but haven't booked yet.

It seems Barcelona hotels don't believe in quads. I've booked a Marriott. It is out by the airport, but has free shuttles from the airport and a low cost shuttle to the port. They have 2 bedrooms suites available with breakfast and snacks.

ABDMom

 

[hawky7]

Okay some spare pixie dust needed... left a message for my boss trying to get this amount of time off. I really really want to go on this cruise and meet all these fun people, so if everyone can think good thoughts that I'll be able to pull off this much time away from work...that would be awesome! Thanks guys!

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Will do hawky7.

 

[sayhello]

Hi! I hope this is allowed. I'm an ABDer, never cruised with DCL, who is *THIS* close to booking this cruise, with the ABD add-on. I have the $999 Cat 12 GTY on hold. (Actually, $1896, because I'm traveling alone). Just wanted to check the group out, get any advice/encouragement from you guys. I need to pay the deposit by tomorrow, and I'm still having that internal debate. It sounds like a WONDERFUL itinerary, and I've wanted to check out DCL. Best of both worlds?

Sayhello

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Hi there sayhello,

Our family has cruised on Norwegian, Princess, Carnival and DCL and we believe DCL provides the best cruise experience in terms of food quality, entertainment, service and accommodations. We loved the 11 night Med cruise on the Magic in 2007 and we're looking forward to doing it again in May. I think if you do go that you definitely won't be sorry.

 

[sayhello]

Hi there sayhello,

Our family has cruised on Norwegian, Princess, Carnival and DCL and we believe DCL provides the best cruise experience in terms of food quality, entertainment, service and accommodations. We loved the 11 night Med cruise on the Magic in 2007 and we're looking forward to doing it again in May. I think if you do go that you definitely won't be sorry.

Thanks for your input, Jeff! I've sailed with Princess and Royal Caribbean, and have liked Princess best so far. I'm looking forward to finding out about the Disney difference!

Any suggestions on a Barcelona hotel for a pre-night? I like the idea of doing DCL transport to/from the airport, but would rather do the hotel myself.

Sayhello

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Sayhello,

Yes, we liked the Regencia Colon in 2007 and we're booked there again for this trip. Scroll back in this thread a bit and you'll find links to the hotel and to the comments it's received on Tripadvisor.com.

Love your ABD trip reports!

 

[sayhello]

Sayhello,

Yes, we liked the Regencia Colon in 2007 and we're booked there again for this trip. Scroll back in this thread a bit and you'll find links to the hotel and to the comments it's received on Tripadvisor.com.

Love your ABD trip reports!

Thanks for the info, Jeff. How easy/difficult is it to get to/from there to the Airport? I'm thinking of coming in a day early, but still using DCL's transportation to & from the port. What kinds of things is it near? Thanks for any info.

Glad you liked the reports! I'm looking forward to doing another one now!

Sayhello