May Med Magic - May 15 2010 - Meet thread

[STLUCIELADY]

NCL is definately not on my list of favorite cruise lines. My daughter was suppose to work on Oceania CL but at the last minute got transferred. Oh well. She somehow made it through. We are a bit afraid to book the private excursions for Rome. We kind of want to have the guarantee that the ship won't leave us. lol It seems that strikes and street closings are typical and have heard horror stories of traffic jams that have left some people too late to board. So far I think we may book the Taste of Rome DCL excursion since its only $125. I think I can start booking tomorrow! We do want to do something in some of the other Italian ports. The Nice and Monaco tour looks awesome and has great reviews but it's $169. Not sure how much it would cost as a private tour with admissions though.

 

[MPS516]

tripodjw

Sorry, but my daughters are actually 19 and not 20, or so one of them so proudly informed me at supper tonight. On post # 2 for MP516 it should be DD19 and DD19.

 

[sarahgirl]

Anyone who has been able to book their reservations yet know if there are still spots available for Palo Brunch? I'm a silver castaway member so I to wait until Feb 14 to book.

 

[bubby627]

Anyone who has been able to book their reservations yet know if there are still spots available for Palo Brunch? I'm a silver castaway member so I to wait until Feb 14 to book.

We just booked our Palo reservations and were lucky to get what we got. After we booked our brunch I went back in to see what else was available and it was all booked up. But maybe more will become available when you are able to book!

 

[MPS516]

I have never done late seating before and see that most of those posted have listed late seating. Is there any concern about the time conflicting with ship activities ?

 

[MPS516]

Both our kids go there. My son is scheduled to graduate in May (Mechanical Engineering). My daughter is a sophomore in the pre-vet program.

I have a daughter in the pre-vet program at the College of St Benedict in Collegeville Minnesota (freshman). The other is a freshamn at Normandale studying business. It might be fun for the girls to meet on the ship.

 

[sayhello]

We just booked our Palo reservations and were lucky to get what we got. After we booked our brunch I went back in to see what else was available and it was all booked up. But maybe more will become available when you are able to book!

Well that just sucks! You'd think with 11 nights, there'd be plenty of availability for everyone. Guess not. I can see this is really not the kind of cruise to do as a first-timer to DCL.

Sayhello

 

[abird]

Hi, I'm new to the boards here; was directed by some on cruise critic. My husband (52) myself (49) and two daughters (26 & 21) are excited about the trip. We have booked a room for 4 at Meson Castilla near Las Ramblas. It's through booking.com and we could cancel at anytime. The total cost for 2 nights is 500.00 includes full breakfast for all of us. Does anyone think there are better deals? I'm interested in sharing excursions, but want to do shorter ones on most ports (Rome is an all day one for us). Also, what do DD, DH and DS mean? Thanks Anne

 

[ICollectBelle]

Well that just sucks! You'd think with 11 nights, there'd be plenty of availability for everyone. Guess not. I can see this is really not the kind of cruise to do as a first-timer to DCL.

Sayhello

We were able to still book Palo for small groups. I think the 3-4 seem to fill up fast. We booked 5-6 & 1-2 depends on when you want to go also.

 

[ICollectBelle]

Hi, I'm new to the boards here; was directed by some on cruise critic. My husband (52) myself (49) and two daughters (26 & 21) are excited about the trip. We have booked a room for 4 at Meson Castilla near Las Ramblas. It's through booking.com and we could cancel at anytime. The total cost for 2 nights is 500.00 includes full breakfast for all of us. Does anyone think there are better deals? I'm interested in sharing excursions, but want to do shorter ones on most ports (Rome is an all day one for us). Also, what do DD, DH and DS mean? Thanks Anne

DD= Disney Daughter
DH= Disney Husband
DS= Disney Son

I had to ask my daughter at first also till I got the lingo down.

 

[abdmom]

Hi, I'm new to the boards here; was directed by some on cruise critic. My husband (52) myself (49) and two daughters (26 & 21) are excited about the trip. We have booked a room for 4 at Meson Castilla near Las Ramblas. It's through booking.com and we could cancel at anytime. The total cost for 2 nights is 500.00 includes full breakfast for all of us. Does anyone think there are better deals? I'm interested in sharing excursions, but want to do shorter ones on most ports (Rome is an all day one for us). Also, what do DD, DH and DS mean? Thanks Anne

Hi Anne

If you go a couple pages back, Jeff posted about a new Novotel hotel that has really good rates. Page 15, post 218. There's a link.

 

[nanaguide]

Welcome to all the new cruisers! I made my dining reservations today around noon after checking here and I got scared there weren't any left. There are only 2 of us and that might make a difference but I didn't have any trouble making brunch reservations on 1st Sea Day, Palo dinner reservations - everyday was open. I even made a reservation for tea at 3p.m. on the last Sea Day. DH will not go to tea with me so if there is a single out there who would like to join me for tea - just PM me. It only cost $5 and it is lovely! Anyway don't give up on the dining reservations I do think they open more up as the trip gets closer.

abird - is Bird your real name? My name is Anna Bird. We hail from Kansas but have lived in Florida for the past 7 years.

Don't know about the rest of you but half the fun of a trip for me is this planning stage. My DH complains that I am always on the internet. I just love planning trips. Right now I'm trying to figure out an excursion to Monterssat for the day we arrive. We missed doing it when we did the transatlantic in '07 and I'm determined to do it this trip.

I agree. I think Jeff/family got a great room deal at the new hotel. I had just booked the day before on booking.com for a room at Hotel Jazz and paid for it as I was afraid the Euro would go higher but I do think the Spencers got the better deal. Mine was $229 which includes a full breakfast.

For your newbies - if you are interested in the door magnets, t-shirt designs,
etc., go to the bottom of the disboard page - you'll find a designs forum there. I get great ideas from the designers and they are so generous in personalizing for you for FREE!

Please sign us up for the FE. My DH cringed. When we did the '07 transatlantic I made up 250. I had to buy a duffel bag to put them in. Of course we were leaving from Cape Canaveral so that was no biggie. At least this trip we don't have many signed up so I can sneak them in DH's suitcase. He always has extra room.

Looking forward to meeting all of you at a Greet/Meet!

 

[llkoolj40]

Hi, I'm new to the boards here; was directed by some on cruise critic. My husband (52) myself (49) and two daughters (26 & 21) are excited about the trip. We have booked a room for 4 at Meson Castilla near Las Ramblas. It's through booking.com and we could cancel at anytime. The total cost for 2 nights is 500.00 includes full breakfast for all of us. Does anyone think there are better deals? I'm interested in sharing excursions, but want to do shorter ones on most ports (Rome is an all day one for us). Also, what do DD, DH and DS mean? Thanks Anne

Hello Anne,

Welcome to the Dis Boards. I sent you an email!

Lori-jo

 

[k8e]

Hi everyone,

My mom, Joann (58), and I Katie (27), will be joining you on the Magic. This is the first Disney cruise for both of us. I went on a Med cruise through Royal Caribbean in 2008. It will be my mom's first time to Europe. We have Cat 12 gty and have the late seating for dinner. Most likely we'll be looking to share a tour of the Amalfi Coast/Pompeii. We just booked the cruise, so I'm just beginning trip planning mode!

 

[MPS516]

Hi everyone,

My mom, Joann (58), and I Katie (27), will be joining you on the Magic. This is the first Disney cruise for both of us. I went on a Med cruise through Royal Caribbean in 2008. It will be my mom's first time to Europe. We have Cat 12 gty and have the late seating for dinner. Most likely we'll be looking to share a tour of the Amalfi Coast/Pompeii. We just booked the cruise, so I'm just beginning trip planning mode!

Hi Katie,

We are also in the excursion planning stage, theree are 4 of us, Me, DW, DD19 and DD19. It looks like the Rome and Amalfi Coast/Pompeii are both about 9 hours but include lots of stops. Let me know if you are interested in sharing something alone these lines.

Mike

 

[MPS516]

Hi, I'm new to the boards here; was directed by some on cruise critic. My husband (52) myself (49) and two daughters (26 & 21) are excited about the trip. We have booked a room for 4 at Meson Castilla near Las Ramblas. It's through booking.com and we could cancel at anytime. The total cost for 2 nights is 500.00 includes full breakfast for all of us. Does anyone think there are better deals? I'm interested in sharing excursions, but want to do shorter ones on most ports (Rome is an all day one for us). Also, what do DD, DH and DS mean? Thanks Anne

Hi Anne,

We are booked at the Hilton Diagonal, they are running a 50% off winter sale so rooms are as low as 121 and 126, this includes a full buffet breakfast. They have a 3 person room max so we had to book 2 rooms. I focused on Hilton so I could use my Hilton Honors and between the pre and post cruise accommodations had to pay for only a single room night.

We hope to book our shore excisions this week or next and are looking at full day Rome historic monuments with Vatican and another full day Pompeii, Herculaneum & Vesuvius somehow including the Amalfi Coast. Our daughters are both 19.

Mike

 

[rashdecision]

Hi Anne,

We are booked at the Hilton Diagonal, they are running a 50% off winter sale so rooms are as low as 121 and 126, this includes a full buffet breakfast. They have a 3 person room max so we had to book 2 rooms. I focused on Hilton so I could use my Hilton Honors and between the pre and post cruise accommodations had to pay for only a single room night.

We hope to book our shore excisions this week or next and are looking at full day Rome historic monuments with Vatican and another full day Pompeii, Herculaneum & Vesuvius somehow including the Amalfi Coast. Our daughters are both 19.

Mike

I'm not sure if I mentioned this on this board or not but the Hotel Fira Palace which is at the base of Mt. Mountjuic(sp?) for approx $200 a day. I don't remember the exact amount after converting from euros but it ended up being about $200. The bonus to this hotel is the very large size of the rooms and you can put 4 people in them. Worth checking out but I don't know if the rate is still the same since we got an early booking rate.
As to the Pompeii, Herculaneum, Vesuvius and Amalfi excursion, we found that you can do Pompeii and amalfi but Vesuvius and Herculaneum are too far away to add them to Pompeii if you want to see amalfi too. You could probably arrange Pompeii, Herculaneum, and Vesuvius but we tried to do a Pompeii, Vesuvius, and amalfi excursion and the three guide services we looked into said it couldn't be done easily without rushing to the point of not enjoying them.

 

[sayhello]

Hi Anne,

We are booked at the Hilton Diagonal, they are running a 50% off winter sale so rooms are as low as 121 and 126, this includes a full buffet breakfast. They have a 3 person room max so we had to book 2 rooms. I focused on Hilton so I could use my Hilton Honors and between the pre and post cruise accommodations had to pay for only a single room night.

We hope to book our shore excisions this week or next and are looking at full day Rome historic monuments with Vatican and another full day Pompeii, Herculaneum & Vesuvius somehow including the Amalfi Coast. Our daughters are both 19.

Mike

Did you have a code or something for the Hilton Diagonal? I'm not finding a price anywhere near what you're quoting!

Sayhello

 

[MPS516]

I just looked at the rates and found that the business district Hilton has rates of 120.54 USD and the Diagonal is from 144 right now. If you look at reservediscounthotels dot com you should see those rates. I also found on vouchercodes dot com rates from 142 and they do use a code number which they input when you are seeking rates. The other site that I used was Capuona online booking dot com where I originally got my rate. In my case, once I had a confirmed rate I called Hilton Honors gave them the rate and they matched it along with the rewards comp rooms I needed.

 

[tripodjw]

Just checking in quickly but welcome to new cruisers. I will update the cruiser and FE lists tomorrow to add the new peeps and make requested corrections.

not ignoring y'all just kinda busy this weekend.