Much Anticipated Med Cruise 6/29/2011

[DorothyDamato]

I called Verizon as well today. Just to all to all the information:
They told me for 1.29 for Italy/France and Malta 1.99 for Malta per minute OR....You could buy the Global Plan for $4.99 a month (deactivate it when you get home) and it reduces the charge to .99 and 1.49. (I actually have what they sent me in front of me)

You can pay 9.99 to have a loaner phone sent to you as well - and when you get back, you ship it back.

They also told me that I was available for an upgrade (that would end up being free because they have a $50 rebate???) to get the phone that handles the global plan (instead of getting the loaner). Same prices apply.

He also said some about a SIM card. He said just before I leave on trip, call have them unlock the SIM . Charges are cheaper when you get there? Not sure I understood this. Then you deactivate when you get home.

Number to call is 1-800-711-8300.

Good to know too that they say:
Global per minute rates apply when checking voicemail while travelling.
To avoid accidnetal data usage charges - ensure your device is powered off when not using so session is ended.
Disable widgets and apps that may continually communicate with network.
For Blackberry/smartphones, droids - disable the data while roaming.
When sending messages, you will be charged per recipient per message.

 

[DorothyDamato]

IAM DEFINITELY doing Villefranche on my own! Sounds like fun! Trains to Nice and Monaco sound easy.

Just some more info. I told you all about the Barcelona Card awhile ago. If you are going to be in Barcelona for more than 2 CONSECUTIVE days - this might be something you want. Its 25.65 for 2 days and includes all public transportation, free entry to some museums, restuarant discounts, and leisure discounts.

This wont work for me since we are adding a day on either end of our trip. After further research, sounds like our best best is going to be to buy single Euro passes for the Metro.

I am sending Cam a MAP of the TMB system in Barcelona with some tidbits if anyone wants it - let me know. Sure - you can get one while you are there, but I have already mapped out where I want to go! CRAZY!

OK - other options for TMB:
T10 pass is for 10 trips, but reading the info almost sounds like the tickets have to be used within an hour or 2 depending on the zone you are in. Ranges from 7.95 to 33 Euros.

2 day travel pass is 11.2 Euros. But again, it has to be for CONSECUTIVE days.

T4 travel card is 10 journeys - but it reads like you have to have it in conjunction with other passes.

Single pass is 1.4 Euros.

 

[DorothyDamato]

I think you said you are in DVC right?

I just bought my Travel Insurance through DVC. I paid cash for my daughter, so I had to buy a seperate policy for her. But it was $79 dollars per use year with TravelEx depending on how many points you used. After comparing all the other Travel Insurance prices, I decided to go with DVC. It ended up being 237 for my husband and I and 102 for my daughter. It covers the cruise, and the up to $750 for nonrefundable items (my airplane tickets were nonrefundable). You know what - I might have to check this to make sure its $750 per person not total. Anyway, overall, it seemed to cover most of my needs fairly well in case something happens.

Ok - I am out of breath (so to speak) with the last 3 posts. See ya all later.

 

[keenercam]

Hey,guys, I have a question for you. Do we want to start a new thread, started by one of us who is going on the cruise and posting on this thread so that we can use the first post as an index of useful information with a reference to the post number/page where we can find information in our thread?

I'd asked a moderator if there is any way to let one of us put a post at the front of this thread and jilljill said the only way to do something like that is to start a new thread, put the link to it in this thread and then have her lock this one. We could all copy and paste the useful info from this thread into the new one. What do you think?

 

[deplion]

I think you said you are in DVC right?

I just bought my Travel Insurance through DVC. I paid cash for my daughter, so I had to buy a seperate policy for her. But it was $79 dollars per use year with TravelEx depending on how many points you used. After comparing all the other Travel Insurance prices, I decided to go with DVC. It ended up being 237 for my husband and I and 102 for my daughter. It covers the cruise, and the up to $750 for nonrefundable items (my airplane tickets were nonrefundable). You know what - I might have to check this to make sure its $750 per person not total. Anyway, overall, it seemed to cover most of my needs fairly well in case something happens.

Ok - I am out of breath (so to speak) with the last 3 posts. See ya all later.

I am not in DVC. I have a brother who is a member, but not me.

I went through Access America for my insurance. Sounds like you got a good deal on your policy especially given everything it covers.

 

[DCLShel]

IAM DEFINITELY doing Villefranche on my own! Sounds like fun! Trains to Nice and Monaco sound easy.

Just some more info. I told you all about the Barcelona Card awhile ago. If you are going to be in Barcelona for more than 2 CONSECUTIVE days - this might be something you want. Its 25.65 for 2 days and includes all public transportation, free entry to some museums, restuarant discounts, and leisure discounts.

This wont work for me since we are adding a day on either end of our trip. After further research, sounds like our best best is going to be to buy single Euro passes for the Metro.

I am sending Cam a MAP of the TMB system in Barcelona with some tidbits if anyone wants it - let me know. Sure - you can get one while you are there, but I have already mapped out where I want to go! CRAZY!

OK - other options for TMB:
T10 pass is for 10 trips, but reading the info almost sounds like the tickets have to be used within an hour or 2 depending on the zone you are in. Ranges from 7.95 to 33 Euros.

2 day travel pass is 11.2 Euros. But again, it has to be for CONSECUTIVE days.

T4 travel card is 10 journeys - but it reads like you have to have it in conjunction with other passes.

Single pass is 1.4 Euros.

Dorothy-

Thanks for the good info! Since we'll be in Barcelona for three days before the cruise, the Barcelona card sounds like it would be a good deal for us! I would be interested in the map you sent to Cam. I'd like to get a feel for the city before we get there.

Cam -

If you think it would be more organized to start a new thread, go for it! There aren't too many of us on here so it shouldn't be a big deal to move everyone over.

 

[DCLShel]

So - if you are interested in doing the Fish Extenders - Let me know and I will start a list!

Maybe we should keep it small for packing purposes.
If anyone has any suggestions on a Theme - let me know. AND - if anyone has pointers or past gift ideas - let me know that too!

I think there's a thread with pictures of past FE gifts. My best suggestion - use your imagination! We got a wide range of gifts in January. Magnets, highlighters, little first aid kits, local food items, cruise music CD, glow sticks, homemade ornaments - just to name a few.

 

[keenercam]

Dorothy - I was going to say the same thing as Shelley. I would love for our family to be on the Fish Extender list and I don't think you have to do anything more than compile the list of cruisers, ages of kids, and cabins. I would think that since people are travelling so far, they will come up with ideas based on what they can fit in their luggage. Since we don't know how many cabins will ultimately participate, that may make a difference in what people choose to give -- if there are a lot of cabins participating, people may do something a bit less costly.

I am trying to decide whether to do one fish extender on our cabin for all four of us or whether to do 2 different ones, one for our cabin and one for the kids' cabin. I'll probably do two since Jenn and Andrew will enjoy choosing gifts and going around the ship to hand them out.

I am trying to rememember, Dorothy, did I thank you for the information on the Barcelona card? I checked out the website and we are definitely going to do that for the four of us for Monday and Tuesday (Sunday, we'll take it easy, probably and wander around the city without doing any of the museums, etc. Maybe we'll walk to the beach to see what it is like.

By the way, the cruiser chart is really a fun compilation of information. I hadn't realized that we have a 6 year old and a 7 year old in our DIS "family" and we have 1 15-year old, 1 16-year old and 5 17-year olds. I think my son is probably going to try to get an email list together of all the teens in that 15-17 year old age group to get everyone to know each other a little before the cruise. We don't have many sea days but they will still find opportunities to interact, I'm sure.

 

[keenercam]

Link to new thread:

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=39905014#post39905014

Okay, everyone, since this thread was started by someone who changed to another cruise date, we were unable to edit the first post to add an index or additional information. One of the moderators suggested that we could start a new thread and have this one locked, so I am going to PM her and ask her to lock this thread.

Come post on the new thread!