Much Anticipated Med Cruise 6/29/2011

[DorothyDamato]

Shelly, I would love the info you got from the other couple that already went on the Med Cruise. The site wont let me post my e-mail address until I have posted 10 total posts??? So - I will wait a little and send you my e-mail. I am getting so excited reading all of this!

The dinner idea each month is an EXCELLENT idea!
My daughter will ALSO be 17!!

You know what would be fun too? Maybe we could all do a 'high tea' at Paolos (although they don't allow anyone 18 or under in there - but the 'kids' probably wont want to go anyway.

 

[DorothyDamato]

I can't do the reduced tickets (although I wish I could) - we used Points from the Disney Vacation Club. I only had enough points for an inside cabin. Everytime you make a change to your reservation, they charge you a flat fee of $95. Wah. I am wondering if there is a way to upgrade and just pay cash - because I would love at least a window!

 

[keenercam]

How would you all feel about me starting a master list of all the cruisers and their kids' names and ages? I know some people might not want that stuff posted, but if you would like me to start keeping track and then adding the information to a single post on this thread, I'd be glad to do that.

 

[DorothyDamato]

I want to send my e-mail address to Shelly - I think this is #9 post!

I started looking at Travel Insurance, Euro Travelers checks, International phone card and getting Euros in General. In one of the e-mails I read on a chat site, someone mentioned TravelEx. I started looking at their site, it seems like you can only get the insurance online if you live in the UK? They have an office near us, but if I can get all of the things I mentioned above - I will make the trip. My bank doesn't do the Euro travelers checks, and I don't have an American Express card. I wonder how much they will charge extra for the travelers checks.

 

[DorothyDamato]

KeenerCam - I would love too! I am fine with that!! That's time consuming for you though - isnt it?
Shelly - I think this is 10! Here is my e-mail!!
Dorothy.Damato@cfins.com

 

[DorothyDamato]

I was going to wait to see what others think - but I am just going to send anyway to get the ball rolling. I already made the faux pax (sp?) of putting my name for my ID. I supposed I should know better...but I can never think of anything original.

Paul Damato - 50
Dorothy Damato - 50
McKenna Damato - 17

 

[DorothyDamato]

Shelly - THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
I had UphotoMalta tour guides info as a tour guide to use, but they didnt have everything I wanted. Malta Travel Net has EVERYTHING! My daughter is in a Vet Science program at her high school, and she really wanted to swim with the Dolphins. The Disney excursion was 250 - Malta Travel Net is $120!!! AWESOME!

I probably still have to pay extra for transportation, but I am sure it will still be TONS cheaper than Disney shore excursion! YEAH WHOO!

 

[DCLShel]

Sorry Ladies! I haven't been on here in a few days!

Cam - Thanks for the heads up on the rates. I'll email my TA and see if we can get a reduction on th price. Any penny saved is more money for excursions!

Dorothy - I will email you the info tonight. Glad the info in my post helped with your Malta excursions. All the info came from goofy559 (Lisa). She's been very helpful.

For our family, it will be myself, DH (Lance) and DD (Kiley). Kiley will be celebrating her 12th birthday onboard. I don't mind you listing our info.

I like the idea of us going to High Tea at Palo's. I've never done it before but have read good reviews of it.

 

[keenercam]

Hi, everyone!
I am so happy to see some of us willing to create a master list to get to know at least the names of some of the Med cruisers ahead of time.

I've created a table, in Word, that has the following columns:
DIS Screen name
email address
Adults
"Kids" (this column also has ages)
"Kid contact info"
From (state or country)
Cabin(s)

Can you think of anything else that would be helpful to include?

I figure if any of the kids want to exchange email addresses or cell numbers to text, we can add that as time goes along.

I put the cabin number column in case later on people want to do fish extenders, though we've never done that.

Once we have a good amount of information on the list, I'll email it to anyone who wants it. If you want your information on the list to share with other cruisers on this cruise but do NOT want to post it on this thread, just send me a PM. In case you don't know how to do that, click on my name to the left of this post and choose "send a private message to keenercam". I'll include your information on my list and then email it next week to everyone that has participated. As others provide information, I'll update the list and re-email it.

BTW, I've cleared the two weeks with all of my partners & colleagues, so we are definitely set for this cruise week (I don't think I'd mentioned before that I was worried it might conflict). SOOOO excited!

 

[DCLShel]

DCLShel - I also had trouble deciding about whether to take the 10:35 am flight on the day that the cruise ends. I kept changing my mind. My TA at DU recommended taking a flight the following day but it sounds like many people have taken that flight with no problems. I chickened out and booked a flight the day after the cruise. We are staying at the Renaissance Barcelona Airport Hotel for a night.

Suzanne- I've been emailing Goof559 (Lisa) - she went on the 10 day Med cruise this summer (we're both on the Inaugural cruise of the Dream). She said they were in port by 6:30am and several people had morning flights. She just advised that we have travel insurance (I already purchased it!) in case we would miss the flight.

I've decided that this should be a family decision! I don't want to make an "executive decision" and then we miss the flight! I'm going to discuss it with DH and DD and make sure we're all in agreement. I'm pretty sure they will both want to fly home the day we get back to Barcelona.

I'm still researching hotels. Are you staying at a different hotel on the front-end on your trip?

So many details to take care of!!

 

[DCLShel]

Our cabin number is 5127.

I haven't done the FE yet either but I'm signed up for it on my January cruise. I'm feeling a little overwhelmed with it right now. There's 85 adults & 23 kids on the list! I know, I know - it suppose to be fun and you don't have to give to everyone but . . .

 

[TPBChick]

Suzanne- I've been emailing Goof559 (Lisa) - she went on the 10 day Med cruise this summer (we're both on the Inaugural cruise of the Dream). She said they were in port by 6:30am and several people had morning flights. She just advised that we have travel insurance (I already purchased it!) in case we would miss the flight.

I've decided that this should be a family decision! I don't want to make an "executive decision" and then we miss the flight! I'm going to discuss it with DH and DD and make sure we're all in agreement. I'm pretty sure they will both want to fly home the day we get back to Barcelona.

I'm still researching hotels. Are you staying at a different hotel on the front-end on your trip?

So many details to take care of!!

Hi Shelly,
We are staying at the Barcelona Universal Hotel (not the Barcelona City Hotel Universal - didn't have good reviews) before the cruise. It is ranked pretty high on tripadvisor.com. They have triple rooms. I went ahead and prepaid our room and got a 20% discount and free breakfast.

 

[DorothyDamato]

Ive gotten some tour guides for Barcelona, Rome and Florence. I have one for Corsica which I havent read yet.

If anyone is interested, you can get free entry {but later in the paragraph it shows 20 Eros??) into 7 major museums in Barcelona (Fundacio Miro, MACBA, tHE mnac, La Pedrera, Findacio Taipies, the CCCB and the Museu Picasso). It is call the Articket (www.articketbcn.org ).

There is also the Barcelona card (www.barcelonacard.com) which allows unlimited transport on metro and buses, and gives discounts on sights etc. It costs 24 Euros for a 2 day pass (29 for 3 days etc).

The Tiquet Ciencia allows entry to Cosmocaixa, the Zoo, Museu Maritim, the Jardi Botanic, the Musea de Ciencies Naturals and a couple of others outside Baracelona for 19 Eros. All of these are also available from tourist offices.

 

[TPBChick]

Thanks for the info Dorothy.

 

[keenercam]

Great info! Thanks, Dorothy!

 

[thinkoflaura]

Hi everybody!

This is my first post on the DIS boards... I'm so excited!

I along with my DH, and DD (she'll turn 6 a week before the cruise) will be on the Magic with you 6/29-7/10/11! We're also bringing my folks so it will be a fun filled family trip of a lifetime.

I see a lot of folks with teenage kids... anyone traveling with little ones?

Thanks for all the tips you all have posted so far. I am bookmarking everything you guys talk about!!!!


xoL

 

[TPBChick]

Welcome thinkoflaura!

 

[keenercam]

Welcome, thinkoflaura!! Get your post count up to 10 and then send me a PM with your information and I'll add you to our cruisers spreadsheet. I am sure there will be other DISers with young children. It will be wonderful when they all meet up at the port and can say "hi" even before they get to the kids' clubs.

 

[DCLShel]

thinkoflaura! Glad you found this board~

 

[thinkoflaura]

i can't wait!!!! (bought DH a pirate bandana at the dollar store to so he can wear it at the much talked about pirate party!) thank goodness for the cheapy halloween section.