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

[FloridaMom3461]

Our neighbors loved this "down under" tour in Rome so I thought I'd pass it along to everyone. Note it says minimum age of 15 yrs old.

http://saintpetersbasilica.org/Necropolis/ScaviTour.htm

 

[FloridaMom3461]

Climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa tickets are available for direct purchase today.

Here is the website: http://www.opapisa.it/en/plan-your-visit/ticket-office.html
They only open pre-buy tickets between 45-15 days prior to your visit. Otherwise you have to wait in line. You need a passport number or identity card to book.

~Heather~

Thanks Heather - I noticed it says must be 8 years old

 

[nightfire]

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!

At long last, we have our Cabin number on Deck 7

 

[medmertz]

Hey Guys,

My family and I are going on this cruise and we are new to everything. New to Disney Cruises (actually, any cruise), new to Europe and the Mediterranean, new to it all. We have managed to book some excursions though.

Thanks for all the info. Our family is my husband and I and our DS (14) and DS (9).

We are also staying a week in London before the cruise. It has always been a dream of mine to go to London, so we slipped it in.

I would like to participate in the FE.

Mertz

 

[MrsMac]

Hey Guys,

My family and I are going on this cruise and we are new to everything. New to Disney Cruises (actually, any cruise), new to Europe and the Mediterranean, new to it all. We have managed to book some excursions though.

Thanks for all the info. Our family is my husband and I and our DS (14) and DS (9).

We are also staying a week in London before the cruise. It has always been a dream of mine to go to London, so we slipped it in.

I would like to participate in the FE.

Mertz

Hi there Mertz and family

Welcome welcome welcome

Its lovely to have you on the cruise and posting on the thread. Last year was my first Disney cruise and only our second cruise since my honeymoon and if I can reassure you - everything I learn't before we sailed was stuff I read on these boards. When you get the chance read up on as much as you can - you have obviously read about the FE exchange - its great fun - the girls and I did it last year and they really enjoyed having gifts waiting for them when we got back to our state room - who wouldnt enjoy it after all! I will certainly add your details to our group. I am in the process of getting everyones names and ages then I will share the list with the group. There are 7 families including yourselves, some more may still join - there's time enough.

Its midnight here in the UK and I am off to bed but any questions you may have feel free to post and I will get back to you tomorrow, as will the rest of the group - everyone has been very friendly and good at sharing information.

Enjoy trawling through the questions and answers - some of the threads are just awesome. Be sure to read the frequently asked questions thread at the top of the page - entitled DIS DCL FAQ - it has soo much information all in one place.

Ok, chat soon, nite for now everyone

Judith

 

[FloridaMom3461]

Hey Guys,

My family and I are going on this cruise and we are new to everything. New to Disney Cruises (actually, any cruise), new to Europe and the Mediterranean, new to it all. We have managed to book some excursions though.

Thanks for all the info. Our family is my husband and I and our DS (14) and DS (9).

We are also staying a week in London before the cruise. It has always been a dream of mine to go to London, so we slipped it in.

I would like to participate in the FE.

Mertz

Welcome Mertz! You have picked the very best cruise as your first one! Let us know if you have questions or need anything.

Randi

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

Randi - that's too bad about the age limit and the leaning tower of pisa. I forgot all about that. You (and your DH) are more than welcome to tag along with my DH & DS, they have 2:20 tickets. Me and my 2 yr old will be at a cafe in the sqaure patiently waiting; your DD is more than welcome to hang out with us during the climb and watch for you up top !!! Although I completely understand if you are going to skip it all together because you are doing everything as a family!

Mertz - Welcome! Glad to have you join us. I am sure I'll be seeing lots of you and your family. I have a 10 year old DS. I am sure your 9 year old and mine will be ending up in the same club activities throughout the cruise!

Only 5 weeks before the cruise - I can't believe it! It wasn't too long ago we were couting in double digit months! 4 weeks until we leave for Europe....I still haven't bit the bullet and bought any Euro's yet....the CDN $ hasn't done that well against the Euro in months and keep hoping I'll catch a good swing...but not yet!

Hope everyone is having fun planning. Let me know if you need any help.

~Heather~



~Heather~

 

[FloridaMom3461]

Randi - that's too bad about the age limit and the leaning tower of pisa. I forgot all about that. You (and your DH) are more than welcome to tag along with my DH & DS, they have 2:20 tickets. Me and my 2 yr old will be at a cafe in the sqaure patiently waiting; your DD is more than welcome to hang out with us during the climb and watch for you up top !!! Although I completely understand if you are going to skip it all together because you are doing everything as a family!

Mertz - Welcome! Glad to have you join us. I am sure I'll be seeing lots of you and your family. I have a 10 year old DS. I am sure your 9 year old and mine will be ending up in the same club activities throughout the cruise!

Only 5 weeks before the cruise - I can't believe it! It wasn't too long ago we were couting in double digit months! 4 weeks until we leave for Europe....I still haven't bit the bullet and bought any Euro's yet....the CDN $ hasn't done that well against the Euro in months and keep hoping I'll catch a good swing...but not yet!

Hope everyone is having fun planning. Let me know if you need any help.

~Heather~



~Heather~

Thanks for the offer Heather! I think we'll probably skip going inside the tower and just see it from the outside. Probably see you there!

I cant believe how close the cruise is - I feel like I should be doing more preparation but everything is sort of done. Need to do FE shopping; print out our door signs on magnetic paper; and also think we may have to invest in new suitcases - any favorite brands out there?

Randi

 

[FloridaMom3461]

OK Jude - the question of the week - have you told the girls yet?

 

[MrsMac]

OK Jude - the question of the week - have you told the girls yet?

Randi

I havent told them yet but I am definitely telling them this weekend - Rebecca finished Primary School today. She starts Grammar School (age 11-18) this September. Sarah and Aileen finish P2 on Thursday and start P3 in September.

I am going to count the money in their money boxes before this weekend so I can get some of it changed to $$$$ and Euros for their spending money! I'm actually really excited about telling them - I will have the camera ready to capture their reaction - and will upload a photo if I can remember how to do that!!! Its been a while since I posted any!

Not long now eh? I need to finish my FE making/shopping too. Its all very exciting. I am going to miss my Disney Cruise next year as the Magic isnt in the Med. I'll be hoping for 2013 - perhaps Baltic again, or Venice. I'm really not bothered, just couldnt see my flying to America on my own with the girls while the twins are still young.

I'll let you all know how telling the girls goes down! Seeing as I booked on 28th Feb I've kept the secret to myself for 4 months.............

Nite for now

Jude

 

[snl35]

Hello Everyone!

Greetings! We have booked this Aug 6 Med cruise. It'll be me, my wife & our 6 yrs. old son. This will be our 2nd Disney cruise. We are very excited to be on Disney Magic. Thinking about booking shore excursions, have you guys booked already or planning independently? Would like to know.

Cheers!

-Sam

 

[Newfoundland Sailor]

Welcome Sam!

We did a combination of everything. We booked a private tour for the family in Villefranche; going on our own in La Spezia; in Citavecchia 3 of us are doing a DCL Excursion and 3 of us our own; Naples we are doing two different DCL Excursions; and in Palma 2 people are doing a 1/2 day DCL Excursion and the rest of us are on our own.

In the end I think our choices came down to what was more convienient for us that day. And I don't think price was the deciding factor.

I let me 10 year old research each of the ports, read the Disney excursions and recommend to me his top 3 things to do or see. Then before deciding on a DCL excursion, I researched the same idea on our own/private tour costs and the convenience/time needed. So much info is available online for each of the ports that I didn't have troubles tracking down what I was looking for.

~Heather~

 

[snl35]

Thanks Heather!

 

[FloridaMom3461]

My cruise documents came in the mail today - wooohooo -must be getting closer.

 

[FloridaMom3461]

Hello Everyone!

Greetings! We have booked this Aug 6 Med cruise. It'll be me, my wife & our 6 yrs. old son. This will be our 2nd Disney cruise. We are very excited to be on Disney Magic. Thinking about booking shore excursions, have you guys booked already or planning independently? Would like to know.

Cheers!

-Sam

Welcome Sam and family. We booked some private tours, one DCL tour, and doing one port on our own. If you read through the posts you'll see the details. Since this is our first time to the Med area, we wanted to have plans that would be enjoyable for us and our 6 yr old DD.

We've got a FE exchange list started also so please let Jude know if you want to also participate.

look forward to "chatting with you".
Randi

 

[Rob79]

Hey Guys,

My family and I are going on this cruise and we are new to everything. New to Disney Cruises (actually, any cruise), new to Europe and the Mediterranean, new to it all. We have managed to book some excursions though.

Thanks for all the info. Our family is my husband and I and our DS (14) and DS (9).

We are also staying a week in London before the cruise. It has always been a dream of mine to go to London, so we slipped it in.

I would like to participate in the FE.

Mertz

Hi Mertz,
Glad you're aboard too! We are also slipping in four days in London before heading to Barcelona. I've never been and it seemed timely (plus I'll be celebrating my really big birthday that week)! But now the time is fast approaching -- just got our cruise documents today ... time to really get going and finalize all the plans!
Roberta

 

[nightfire]

My cruise documents came in the mail today - wooohooo -must be getting closer.

Our documents arrived today as well

 

[redsonja76]

Phew, so I'm back from a week's long trip to Garmisch and Munich with my family and my mom. Mom took my 15 yr old back to the states with her for the next three weeks, so I have some peace and quiet for now. Anyway, I'm getting crazy excited! Got our cabin number (will pm it to you Mac in a sec), and have started picking up little things for the FE. We don't have a large budget to do with that so I'm wondering how many gifts you all buy for each other? Is it one per person per day, or one per person per cruise, or how do you do it? I'm trying to figure out how much to get and keep it in budget. Today I prepaid our tips, so that's off my radar thank goodness. Plane tickets bought, hotel rooms in Barcelona paid for, and now all I need is the money to pay the excursions off and spending money. As for excursions, we have NOTHING planned for Ville Franche (need ideas!!!). I just don't know what to do that that will be fun for me, dh, dd (15), and dd (4). For La Spezia my 15 year old and I are doing the DCL climb the tower one, and my dh and 4 year old are doing the DCL castle/dinosaur dig one. In Rome we booked with romeinlimo. In Naples we're doing the DCL Herculaneum tour, and for right now we have beach transfers scheduled for Palma, but I think I might cancel them and just venture that one on our own since we just want to go to the beach and perhaps the pearl factory. Gosh, I need to get on etsy and order a fish extender!

 

[FloridaMom3461]

For those participating in the Fish extender gifts, please post if any one in your group has any allergies that we need to avoid.

I'll be first: Our DD cannot have any artificial flavors, colors, or chemicals. So please no candy or other food items unless they are "all natural" for us.

thanks!
Randi

 

[Kristin773]

For those participating in the Fish extender gifts, please post if any one in your group has any allergies that we need to avoid.

I'll be first: Our DD cannot have any artificial flavors, colors, or chemicals. So please no candy or other food items unless they are "all natural" for us.

thanks!
Randi

No allergies over here.

I think I just hit 10 posts so I can finally PM Judith with my info.

We got our cruise documents too. Getting super excited! Kristin