Much Anticipated Med Cruise 6/29/2011

[Angie_Ohio]

I hope this will start a thread for the 10 day Med. Cruise for June 29, 2011. I have never started a thread that needs linked so I'm sure I'll need some help.
Anyone sailing with my DS16, DMom and DDad?

 

[IrishCowboy]

I have added your thread to the cruise meet list

 

[macassi]

We are sailing with you!

This will be our 3rd Disney Cruise. We are a family of 5 from California, but currently living in Switzerland. Kids ages for the cruise will be 13-boy, 10-boy, and 7-girl.

 

[DorothyDamato]

We will be there! Family of 3 from Jersey - Mom and Dad will be 50 and daughter who will be 17. I have done all sorts of research at this point and know what I am going to do at each of the shore excursions. I have been reading the Spencersmedcruise blog online. They went on the Disney med cruise in 2007, and are going again 5/15/2010 - they have lots of pictures and give some good info too.

Am hoping my 17 year old will have fun with other teenagers! Will keep reading to see if we can meet up with some of our fellow cruisers

 

[Angie_Ohio]

Yeah! This is my son's third cruise and my fourth. He is one of five sons my husband and I have. This trip is was a surprise for him. He gets great grades, plays soccer and is obsessed with history and the Roman Empire. Each son hopes to take a trip as they get a bit older.
We visited California in 2008. We went to Yosemite and Disneyland. Loved it there. Weather was unbelievable. My DS 16 is moving there when he graduates high school.
He will be working for Blizzard dot com and designing video games.

 

[DorothyDamato]

Your son sounds like he definitely deserves the trip! It boggles my mind that kids know what they want to do career wise in high school....I still don't know what I want to be when I grow up!
5 boys!? You are brave! I knew early on that I didnt have the patience for more than 1.
My daughter is in a Vet Science program at a smaller school. She wants to be a Vet - she gets the grades (but I am constantly on her for homework - I can do that since I only have 1). She is 1/4 Italian and wanted to visit her heritage as a graduation gift. I lie - I wanted to do the trip so I was 'all over that'.
I love to travel - don't you? I grew up in Calif (LA area) so I can appreciate that you had a marvelous trip there- it's another world!

We went to Sedona Arizona last year. We did a Yoga hike with a group of people (I wanted to do things outside my norm) - it was one of the highlights next to rafting down the Colorado River in Grand Canyon.

Hey - what are you going to do clothes wise for your boys for the dinners? I know you have to dress nicely for dinners on the cruise, but my daughter is strictly jeans and t-shirts only. I am thinking that if I can get her a black skirt or pair of pants and mix up the tops...she will be fine (she will just take them off immediately after dinner anyway).

 

[Angie_Ohio]

My boys normally wear khakis and a polo to dinner. It was just expected that they would eat dinner with us as a family and then they usually went to the shows with us as well.
On formal or semi formal the kids wear dress pants, shirt and tie. They are off right after dinner or the show. I like to get a picture on that night.
A nice pair of pants, skirt or capri's with different tops is just fine. I really never pay too much attention to what people wear unless they stand out for some reason. Like the guy in ripped khaki shorts and flip flops on formal night once. But ... it's his trip too I guess. Wear what you want.

 

[jonida3]

We are planning on the June 29 cruise with Mom, Dad, S17, S15 and S 13! We have tried every summer to take a cruise, so I hope we make this one! Getting on the Boards will give me incentive!!

 

[DorothyDamato]

Hi! I have done ALL sorts of research - so if you have any questions - let me know. I get really excited seeing all the things to do on the trip. One of the families that went on the cruise last week posts alot of good info. They even met with all the people they met on the Disney Boards in Barcelona and then on the ship. We are gonna have fun fun fun!!!

 

[jonida3]

I agree, a meet up in Barcelona would be great! We had a meet up last time we cruised (western Caribbean 2005) and it was great having instant friends throughout the entire trip!

 

[macassi]

I'd love to do a meet-up. We'll be coming from Switzerland, but I think we'll head down a few days early to see Barcelona. It's easier to tour a bit before the trip. After the cruise, we'll probably just want to head home.

Haven't started researching at all. We are doing the Baltic Cruise this summer, so all my energy is on that trip!

 

[DorothyDamato]

I actually have some tours booked already. I get crazy with this stuff, but I book early so I can plan to have the money set aside and not worry about putting myself in debt. I also bought some tour guide books at Borders (Barcelona, Rome, and Florence) and have been asking questions on Cruise Chat sites.

I think we are going to get to Barcelona early too. I have a hotel picked out.

At first we were going to do the ship shore excursions, and then I read up and found out what a rip off they were and you spend alot of time waiting around for the rest of the group. I started doing research on each port for sightseeing in Rome, Naples and Florence. Apparently, the trains are excellent in Italy and they are really close to the ports. I have links for everything and pictures of even things like the little yellow box you have to use to time stamp your train tickets - so if you want to take a look at anthing let me know (I put it all in microsoft word - if I could figure out how to attach it on this board I would). Naples has ferrys to Capri and Sorrento right off the boat, plus there is a train to Pompeii. My husband is a 'worry wart' about getting lost and not making connections , so I decided to go with some native tour guides in most places that drive you around in Mercedes SUV's or cars, and it is still MUCH less than the ship excursions. Alot of the cruise chat sites include pictures and directions on how to get to the train stations.

Tunisa I think I am just going to skip. It seems like it is all about haggling at 'souks' (hope I spelled that right) and I hate that. Not good at hagglingl! I read some reviews from people who did the Disney jeep tour to other villages - I wasn't thrilled with what I read.

Malta - my daughters dream is to swim with a dolphin - so she is going to do the shore excursion for that. I am setting my husband up with a native tour guide. The only other ship shore excursion we might do is in Villefranche (sp?). The native tours are more expensive that what I want to do for the shore excursion - so will just stick with ship excursion.

 

[Angie_Ohio]

jonida3

I see that you have 3 sons! We have 5 sons. They're aged 28, 23, 15, 13, and 11 (soon to b 12). So far only DS 15/will be 16 is going along with my parents.
A meet up would be great. We are planning to spend a few days in Barcelona pre-cruise. My son is a soccer fan and we hope to tour the soccer stadium in Barcelona.
I just finished the year teaching so I can let the planning and dreaming begin!

 

[Surfergirl]

Hi all, We just booked this cruise. Myself, DH, DD19, DD17 (at the time). I am just starting to look at details. Still lots of time but I am an organizer so I'm sure I will have us all organized by Christmas.
We will probably get to Barcelona a few days ahead but still need to sit down and discuss details after all I only booked yesterday.
Jane

 

[3 girls mom]

My family and I will be on this cruise. My girls will be 17 (18th bday is right after the trip), 15 and 10 when we sail. We've only gone on 4 and 5 night cruises, so this one will be a challenge for packing, especially with flight rules. We usually drive from Houston to Port Canaveral.

We considered staying in Barcelona for a few days after the cruise. Do you think flying in a few days beforehand would be better?

 

[Surfergirl]

We are planning to fly in a couple of days early to get over the jet lag.

 

[Angie_Ohio]

We are planning that as well. We want to see more of Spain so we plan to tour for about 2 days. It's less than a year away!!!

 

[3 girls mom]

I was looking at a formal night-related thread and was wondering how that applies to our trip. How formal is "formal" on our cruise? We've only done 4 and 5 night cruises where formal night was really just a "dress up" night.

 

[jonida3]

Hi Three girls Mom! Three boys Mom here! Regarding your question about formals, you will have an easier time than I will. We did a 7 day and dresses, either long or short for women for fine for the Caribbean. Not sure what European standards are!

Quick question for all of you: I am trying to book flights but American only has one flight from Barcelona back to the U.S. (JFK) that leaves at 11 a.m. which is too early. We don't want to stay another night as we are arriving two days early. Any options? We are stuck with American and/or their global partners...

Last question: In your opinion, what is the best excursion for Rome? They are very pricey so it looks like it will just be husband and me but we want to make sure to book the best!

so exciting!

Terri

 

[DorothyDamato]

Hi!

Was reading your post asking about getting to Barcelona before trip vs. doing some touring after the cruise. MACASSI and I had a brief discussion about this - because I wondered the same thing. She commented about how her family might go early because everyone could be exhausted after the trip and just want to get home. I know that she is right about that - I have done a 9 day vacation, and at the end of the trip, I was just ready to get home and did not want to do anymore exploring.

With that being said, I just booked my airline tickets to Barcelona! I also booked my hotel (I got a hotel room {Hotel Novotel in Barcelona City} for 98 Euros - thought that was pretty good. If you book early, you can get 20% discount. I had read about other people taking the Disney Med cruise staying at this hotel, so I felt confident that it would be a descent hotel. Although, the reservation is nonrefundable - I am ok with that.)

We are going to get there a day before, and leave a day after because I couldnt really get a nonstop flight after the cruise that logistically departed in the afternoon.