SERIOUSLY - has our family the 'Magic" to ourselves on 6th August 2011 Med cruise???

[hogwartsdropout]

Hi everyone

We booked the earliest check in time today. So excited!

 

[eatright]

HI, my name is Angela and my family is going on the Aug 6th cruise. We are SO excited! My daughter is 7 and my son is 4. We are arriving in Barcelona on the 4th. I am currently trying to arrange a private tour for Rome but have booked Disney excursions for the other ports. I am looking forward to reading through the other posts and learning all I can about this wonderful trip. This will be me and my husband's second Disney cruise. My mom will also be traveling with us.

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

Welcome Angela! We are arriving in Barcelona on the 4th too, we have an apartment booked so that the six of us can stay together (my mum & dad are joining us too). We have attached staterooms on board. It is going to be a treat for my mum and dad because they live so far away from us (2500 km) that they don't get to see their only grandkids very often.

I am glad to see someone else has a boy....I was beginning to think that almost everyone has princesses no princes! My two boys are in between your son (they are 2 & 10).

I found this site very helpful to figure out the different ports. I also liked using tripadvisor.com as well because they listed many of the private excursion companies.

Happy Hunting and Planning!

~Heather~

 

[Rob79]

Hi everyone

We booked the earliest check in time today. So excited!

How do you book a check in? I think I need to learn about that!

I've been off this thread for a while too. In fact, I can't find my last post!

Getting very excited about the cruise, but now desperately trying to find a good, reasonably priced hotel in London where we are spending a few days the prior week...

 

[cannp123165]

How do you book a check in? I think I need to learn about that!

I've been off this thread for a while too. In fact, I can't find my last post!

Getting very excited about the cruise, but now desperately trying to find a good, reasonably priced hotel in London where we are spending a few days the prior week...

When you do online check-in you can choose a time for your check-in. It is in the Planning Center part of the DCL website. We have booked the earliest time too, as we will be checking out of a hotel in the morning, and I am just so excited to get on the ship!

Hope everyone's planning is going well! Not long now!

 

[cannp123165]

Getting very excited about the cruise, but now desperately trying to find a good, reasonably priced hotel in London where we are spending a few days the prior week...

We have just booked a hotel room in London for this weekend. We used lastminute.com They have top secret hotels, where you don't know what hotel you will get until you book, but using http://www.secrethotelsrevealed.co.uk/, you are able to find out which one you will get! It is a really good way to get 4/5 star hotels for a good price.

 

[redsonja76]

I think I'm going to book a private walking tour with romeinlimo.com We were originally going to do Rome on our own, but I really like the ease of a tour, and it isn't that expensive, for 4 people it's 65E per hour. Way cheaper than the DCL shore excursions, but still getting the service of a tour. Still unsure about what to do for Ville Franche.

 

[nightfire]

Any idea when we will find out our Cabin number - is it before we get there

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

Any idea when we will find out our Cabin number - is it before we get there

.

We found out our Cabin number when we booked. And it show up everytime I log into my reservations.

Do you have a GTY reservation? If so, it looks like from the boards that people have been getting their room numbers about 30-45 days before their cruise.

~Heather~

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

I think I'm going to book a private walking tour with romeinlimo.com .

We were thinking something similar....we never got the DCL excursion we wanted so we were going to come up with something on our own. I think we are going to do a walking tour as well....I checked out a few private guides, private companies and some public tours.

I think in the end we are going to go with a British Airways tour. Strange I know, but it had everything we wanted and the price was good. I think for the vatican portion I am going to hold out and see what the vatican (direct) can offer us.

60 days and counting....

~Heather~

 

[Kristin773]

Any idea when we will find out our Cabin number - is it before we get there

We booked GTY and already have our cabin number. It showed up a few weeks ago when I logged in to view my reservation. I guess it may still change but I am happy with the cabin we got.

I just booked our private tour of Rome (Miles & Miles). Super excited to have that done! Now just need to figure out if we are going to arrange anything else for the other ports. Worried about spending too much time in a bus or car w/ the small kids. Most of all I want them to enjoy to trip and want to go back.

What are the advantages of check in time? I put us down for noon when I registered us. We get to Barcelona on the the 2nd so I figured that would be good time after checking out of our flat and not having to rush. Should I move that to earlier?

Hope everyone is having fun with the planning!

Kristin

 

[Kaleigh]

I think I'm going to book a private walking tour with romeinlimo.com We were originally going to do Rome on our own, but I really like the ease of a tour, and it isn't that expensive, for 4 people it's 65E per hour. Way cheaper than the DCL shore excursions, but still getting the service of a tour. Still unsure about what to do for Ville Franche.

We have done Rome on our own 2 years in a row, and it is one of the easier ports to do. For 9 euros you have transportation to and from and around Rome, and then you just pay your entrance fees. The boat is in port so long, there is practically no chance of not getting back in time. If money is no object, go right ahead, but Rome is not difficult on your own. My website/blog in my signature has pages on all the Disney med ports (we did them last year, and some again this year with Carnival) and has information on how to do them all on your own. Please let me know if any of you have any questions!

 

[redsonja76]

Well, I think now we're going to do the private driving tour. If it wasn't August in Rome we'd do walking, but holy cow it's going to be HOT, so we're going with the car instead.

We are still GTY, I want my stinkin' cabin number, I'm so excited!

 

[nightfire]

.

We found out our Cabin number when we booked. And it show up everytime I log into my reservations.

Do you have a GTY reservation? If so, it looks like from the boards that people have been getting their room numbers about 30-45 days before their cruise.

~Heather~

I checked the reservation again and it still shows GTY

 

[MrsMac]

HI, my name is Angela and my family is going on the Aug 6th cruise. We are SO excited! My daughter is 7 and my son is 4. We are arriving in Barcelona on the 4th. I am currently trying to arrange a private tour for Rome but have booked Disney excursions for the other ports. I am looking forward to reading through the other posts and learning all I can about this wonderful trip. This will be me and my husband's second Disney cruise. My mom will also be traveling with us.

Hi Angela

This is our second Disney Cruise too, and my mum is travelling with us also! I have twin 6 year olds girls who will be 7 the month after our cruise, like Heather said there are a few girls who will hopefully have as much fun as us grown ups!!

We booked back in February and it seemed ages away at that point in the year. Now times moving on and I need to get some planning done! I did our online check-in the other night but need to decide what I am doing about excursions - Disney or on our own!

Anyway, welcome aboard - happy planning and to our meet thread!!!

 

[eatright]

When is everyone arriving in barcelona? We depart Maryland on August 3rd and arrive in Barcelona on August 4th. We have been doing a lot of research on things to see and do while in the city. The part that makes me most nervous is all of the reports of pick pocketing. While I realize it is everywhere, I've heard from many people that it is heavy in Barcelona. Any thoughts?

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

If you are planning on going to the Vatican (on your own) while in Rome - the prepurchase tickets opened up today for the "skip the line" & official tour tickets at the vaticans site.

They sell out quickly (I am told) so don't forget to check it out to avoid the long lines. (http://biglietteriamusei.vatican.va/musei/tickets/do)

~Heather~

 

[Kaleigh]

When is everyone arriving in barcelona? We depart Maryland on August 3rd and arrive in Barcelona on August 4th. We have been doing a lot of research on things to see and do while in the city. The part that makes me most nervous is all of the reports of pick pocketing. While I realize it is everywhere, I've heard from many people that it is heavy in Barcelona. Any thoughts?

Just be aware of your surroundings like you would be in New York City. The only time we felt at all threatened was this one time in the metro, we didn't know where we were going and stood in front of a map for a bit. This guy came up to us, asking if we spoke English (obviously trying to scheme us). We said no and walked away. But, on the metro, no one got too close to us or anything. Just, wear a money belt or your purse across your body and don't make yourself a target. Barcelona is a beautiful city with great stuff to do. I have more information about Barcelona, including a port review on my website in my signature, if anyone is interested.

 

[Rob79]

Thanks Heather! It should be fun with the 2 year old. I am trying to figure out our excursions while keeping nap time in mind.

It looks like my oldest daughter will be celebrating her birthday the same day as your mom. I need to plan something fun for her.

Previous Cruisers, let me know if you celebrated a birthday on the cruise and what DCL has to offer. My dd will be turning 6.

Hi Kristin,
My DD (now age 12) has a birthday which falls during spring break so we've twice celebrated on board Disney -- when she was 7 and again at 9. We indicated to our travel agent that it was a birthday and she arranged for there to be a birthday cake and decorations in the cabin when we arrived. Plus they provided a cake at dinner on the actual day and our servers sang and made it special. I imagine if you are willing to pay extra, they'd throw a whole party too!
-- Roberta

 

[Kristin773]

Roberta,

Thanks for the information. We have her birthday noted on our reservation. I will look into doing the cabin decorations. I was thinking of packing some stuff myself but not sure I will have room in my suitcase.

Thanks!
Kristin