May Med Magic - May 15 2010 - Meet thread

[tripodjw]

We have had the same...it's cost us a fortune to get hold of them. We were told that our transfers were included but when the paper work came it said they weren't. We send loads of emails and finally someone got back to us to say they were, but we are still waiting for the details. So now i have to chase them again....Would never book with them again. You must be on the same flight home then....it's quite late isn't it. Do you know if we are allowed to stay on ship???

Unfortunately, everyone has to be off the ship by around 9/9.30am. Breakfast is earlier that day and you have to leave your room by 8am (or they come and knock on your door and throw you out - not quite but pretty close).

The crew have a lot of work getting it ready for the next cruisers who will begin boarding around 12noon (or soon after).

I guess if the virgin holiday includes the transfers then you're going to be stuck at the airport til your flight home. Unless you can rent a car for the day or go on the train back into barcelona.

We booked through a US travel agent who specialises in Disney stuff (WDW and DCL). You have to deal with the exchange rate yourself but it is far more flexible and you get to choose your cabin category etc. If you decided to do DCL again I'd recommend skipping the UK based agents selling packages and skip straight to a US travel agent or DCL direct, and then just book your own flights.

 

[traceyjayne]

We have had the same...it's cost us a fortune to get hold of them. We were told that our transfers were included but when the paper work came it said they weren't. We send loads of emails and finally someone got back to us to say they were, but we are still waiting for the details. So now i have to chase them again....Would never book with them again. You must be on the same flight home then....it's quite late isn't it. Do you know if we are allowed to stay on ship???

I also have had a terrible time with Virgin Holidays. I am not on the same cruise as yours though I am on the 26th May one. The after sales is appalling and I had an almost impossible task of trying to later flights as well and eventually managed to do so. I would have asked for some compensation for my stress and telephone calls etc but in the end she gave me a " reduced" extra charge for the flight changes! So I will never choose them again! I will book direct next time!
Tracey

 

[sayhello]

Tripodjw, do you know if the strike affects Iberia Airlines at all, since they are affiliated with BA?

TIA!
Sayhello

 

[tripodjw]

Tripodjw, do you know if the strike affects Iberia Airlines at all, since they are affiliated with BA?

TIA!
Sayhello

AFAIAA it doesn't directly affect Iberia flights on Iberia planes. However it is possible that some BA passengers will be moved onto Iberia flights making them busier/overbooked (because of the affiliation) and some Iberia flights may have time changes to accomodate where BA flights are lost on routes that both Iberia and BA were running (probably only relevant to Barcelona-UK)

It is worth checking that your Iberia booked flight is actually one operated by Iberia and not BA though.

I know BA sells spaces onto Iberia planes, so i guess it could go the other way too.

The latest news on the strike is that BA and the union have gone into talks this afternoon in a hope to avoid this weekends strikes. Fingers crossed!

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Hello all! My fiance (32) and I (24) booked this cruise for our upcoming honeymoon!!! We're so excited about the cruise! I've cruised quite a bit before, including a cruise in the Med last summer, covering some of the same ports in Italy. We're interested in seeing if anyone still has spots left in any private tours...??? Both of us have travelled quite a bit and don't mind keeping up with a quicker pace or lots of walking. We're especially interested in Rome, Pompeii/Amalfi Coast, La Spezia, Corsica, and Villefranche tours, as well as any other tours in other ports. We admit that we have had little time to work on honeymoon port excursions while in the thick of the wedding planning, but recognize that time invested into planning the ports is well worth it! We would welcome any advice or recommendations about tours! And if there are any tours with at least two spots open, we would be very interested in joining your group(s)! Thanks... and see ya on board! Ashley and Ricky

Welcome to the cruise Ashley and Ricky!

Wow! Planning a wedding and the honeymoon cruise to the Med at the same time. Unfortunately, all the private tours I know about with vacancies left have only 1 spot each. I'm going to put up on the website a listing of private tour providers by port that others are using as well as providers that are highly recommended on cruise critic and/or trip advisor. Is your stateroom a guarantee category or did you book something specific. Also, early or late seating?

Edit: I added private tour providers that I had at hand under the "Private Tours" button on the Excursions page. Just click on the provider's name and it'll take you to their web site. Note ask about tour discounts from providers if you use them for multiple ports. Can save you $$.

 

[Welsh Girl]

Me too. Have spoken to sooo many people who have had problems. There is even a site dedicated to it. Just wish i had seen it before i booked! [

I also have had a terrible time with Virgin Holidays. I am not on the same cruise as yours though I am on the 26th May one. The after sales is appalling and I had an almost impossible task of trying to later flights as well and eventually managed to do so. I would have asked for some compensation for my stress and telephone calls etc but in the end she gave me a " reduced" extra charge for the flight changes! So I will never choose them again! I will book direct next time!
Tracey

 

[Welsh Girl]

Next time we go we will def use US travel agent to book. Just wish we had this time! never mind

Unfortunately, everyone has to be off the ship by around 9/9.30am. Breakfast is earlier that day and you have to leave your room by 8am (or they come and knock on your door and throw you out - not quite but pretty close).

The crew have a lot of work getting it ready for the next cruisers who will begin boarding around 12noon (or soon after).

I guess if the virgin holiday includes the transfers then you're going to be stuck at the airport til your flight home. Unless you can rent a car for the day or go on the train back into barcelona.

We booked through a US travel agent who specialises in Disney stuff (WDW and DCL). You have to deal with the exchange rate yourself but it is far more flexible and you get to choose your cabin category etc. If you decided to do DCL again I'd recommend skipping the UK based agents selling packages and skip straight to a US travel agent or DCL direct, and then just book your own flights.

 

[Travelbee]

The latest news on the strike is that BA and the union have gone into talks this afternoon in a hope to avoid this weekends strikes. Fingers crossed!

Fingers crossed!

 

[JoeUK]

We booked through Iglu as well, no complaints here.

Iglu have been great for us too, anytime we've had a query its been answered within a couple of hours via email. They even booked us a free 4* hotel room in Barcelona because the only flight out of Doncaster-Sheffield that would get us there on time was on the 14th. It really was free aswell because I asked if we flew from another airport on the 15th if it would be cheaper and the sales agent said no, so you might as well get an extra night!

Has any other UK bookers had anything other than the bon voyage cards from disney ? And IGLU bookers anything other than the confirmation?

 

[JoeUK]

...sorry...trying to meet post quota...by the way..I logged in right at midnight and there were no brunch or tea options available...what's worse, they didn't have the only Malta excursion I really really wanted (Blue Grotto) so I'm bummed

Just checked and there is availability for this excursion now, I knew there was someone on this board that wanted this trip had to go back 30 pages to find you though!

 

[sayhello]

Hmmmm.... interesting development (or DCL site bug) I just went to check if the Cat 12 GTY rooms were back available for our cruise, and they are now listing the lowest available category as Cat 7!!! So is our cruise that sold out? Or are they just messing with stuff in preparation for upgrades????

Enquiring minds want to know!

Sayhello

 

[DopeyFan1966]

I'm so confused. I've never been on a cruise before. What is FE?

I just found this site, now I have to go back and read all 84 pages of this post.

Anyone got advice for us?

 

[tripodjw]

I'm so confused. I've never been on a cruise before. What is FE?

I just found this site, now I have to go back and read all 84 pages of this post.

Anyone got advice for us?

FE is a fish extender. The fish is outside the cabin door (DCL staff leave messages tucked in it) and enterprising DISers realised you can hang bags off it - extending it. It's a gift exchange program that you can join up run via this thread. There's some links to more details on FE's if you take a look at the cruise website (see the link in my sig in orange).

If its your first cruise then check out the FAQ thread at the top of the the main DCL board. There's tons of info in there. Once you've read all that and you still have a question, pop by the main board or back in here and ask away.

As to advice it's difficult to know where to start, other than Enjoy the cruise.

 

[DopeyFan1966]

Thanks for your answer. Can you add us to your roll call?

Me -Cindy 43
DH -Andy 45
DD - Skylar 8
Main Seating
celebrating DH 45 birthday and 16th wedding anniversary
we currently live in Belgium (I'm in the military and stationed @ SHAPE)
we have a room in Cat 6, GTY is our stateroom? (we got a really good deal for this cruise on 15 March, otherwise we would've never been able to do this trip)

We currently have the following excursions scheduled, please let me know if you think this is too much (our first ever cruise):

Malta - Jeep Safari
Tunis - Bardo Museum, Medina, Carthage, Sid Bou Said
Naples - Hidden Treasures of Herculaneum
Rome - Rome on Your Own (we are going to to do the Hop on Hop off bus)
Florence - Forence on Your Own (we are going to to do the Hop on Hop off bus)
Ajaccio - The Imperial Town
Villefanche - Nice adn Train Tour

Is anyone doing the Palo dinner on 24 May @ 6pm?

We would like to participate in FE.

56 days and counting

 

[DopeyFan1966]

Hi everyone,

Just want to say quick hello!!! I am new to this board. I started to read this thread tonight, and was on page 7 only, and thought I would jump to the end and say hi first, before I go back and read the rest later this week.

I wish that I discover this board before booking my air last night!! I know I am late to the board, but we booked our cruise on 3/8, booked our airfare last night, and have yet to book hotel at Barcelona. That will be the next step. I feel quite behind, and a bit overwhelm, compared to some of you who booked the cruise a year ago!! But better late than never!!

I feel the same way. I just booked on 16 March, and found this thread today. I read to about page 15, and now I'm ready from the end back, just a little overwelmed by everything.

 

[jedijill]

Some of the folks on the 5/5 cruise are starting to get upgrades from the 12 GTY's. I saw one person who went from a 12 to a 8!

Hopefully they get to us soon!

Jill

 

[sayhello]

Some of the folks on the 5/5 cruise are starting to get upgrades from the 12 GTY's. I saw one person who went from a 12 to a 8!

Hopefully they get to us soon!

Jill

Fingers & toes crossed!

Sayhello

 

[Jeff Spencer]

Hello Dopeyfan1966 and welcome to the cruise and our DIS thread!

Obviously, your focus should be on accommodations in Barcelona if you haven't already booked them. Airfare as well. Other than that, in terms of the DCL excursions, cruise ports I'd suggest you check out our website. There are links on there for most everything you can think of. Other than that, you can read back through the thread to get to know a bit more about your fellow cruisers.

 

[jenandmartin]

Just checked and there is availability for this excursion now, I knew there was someone on this board that wanted this trip had to go back 30 pages to find you though!

That was so nice of you! Thank you!! We are now confirmed on the excursion.

 

[MPS516]

Sarahgirl

Congratulations on your Masters, is it Ohio State ? I love finding out where people are from and finding out things about their communities. I spent a few years in Columbus and went to Ridgeview. This was way back at the time of the Kent State tragedy, I lived near Reed and Henderson which is much different today then it was back then. What part of town are you in ?