The Med Thread - All Sailings - Mediterranean

[scottishwee35]

Hello,
just booked the 11 night med cruise!!!!!! so excited.
My son and i did the 3 night wonder in aug, so this will be the first long cruise.
I have some questions for those of you who have done the longer magic cruises before....................
How do the dinner rotataion and show's work, eh do you continue going around the 3 restuarant and shows?
How much are the tips? and will this still be in $ even though we are in Europe?
How have you found the full day at Sea- as there are 3 of them, did you find things to keep you and the children entertained?
Spa treatment and excursion- as a 2nd time cruiser can i book these earlier than the 90 day period?Any reccomedadation for Spa treatments?

For UK crusiers- i am going to book the flight to Barcleona through one of the cheaper air company but am concerned about the luggage amount- i think on BA you can only have 23kg in total between 2 bags!!! Help!

Lots of question already and so long to go!!!
Best wishes
Ruth

Hello Ruth

Glad to hear that you had a good times 3 days Cruise.

You just like me as I went to Disney Cruise in April then booked for Medi. Cruise.

I keep asking question which you were asking so think will hear more after Xmas??

About spa,palo etc think 75 days.

I have booking with BA flight for 2 adults and 2 children and know about 23kg weight!! I know it is not easy maybe we put 2 kids clothes in one case then have more room another one? And about excursion, no news until after Xmas and will find out more informations.

Let you know that there will be no pirates and no Jack Sparrow as my kids was talking about it and looking forward to but I have to tell them that no pirates as they got new uniforms for my daughter's birthday party in 3 weeks time. Oh well, hope something come up good? I think Puppets might be on Med Cruise?? Not sure.

Scottishwee35

 

[padalyn]

I just don't have time to read some 50 pages of postings...this is just a bump up...

 

[leira1989]

Hello,
just booked the 11 night med cruise!!!!!! so excited.
My son and i did the 3 night wonder in aug, so this will be the first long cruise.
I have some questions for those of you who have done the longer magic cruises before....................
How do the dinner rotataion and show's work, eh do you continue going around the 3 restuarant and shows?
How much are the tips? and will this still be in $ even though we are in Europe?
How have you found the full day at Sea- as there are 3 of them, did you find things to keep you and the children entertained?
Spa treatment and excursion- as a 2nd time cruiser can i book these earlier than the 90 day period?Any reccomedadation for Spa treatments?


Best wishes
Ruth

Hi Ruth!

I just got off the 10 day cruise on the Wonder and booked on of the Med ones onboard.

Your dinner rotation continues. The restaurant where you eat on day one, is also the one where you eat on day 4, etc.

Disney publishes tip guides. For the 10 day, each cruiser was asked to pay a little over $100 to cover their head server, assistant server, restaurant host/ manager, and their stateroom host. I assume this will be in US dollars as that's what the castmembers are usually paid in.

I personally loved the days at sea best. I had the freedom to sleep in & rest up from excursions, but there are lots of activities planned througtout the day. We had a talk with Broadway star Susan Egan one day, I watched a fruit carving demonstation another day, they had organized family-pool activities at the Goofy pool, wine tastings, towel folding demonstrations, cooking seminars, bingo, etc. he Oceanners Club also seemed to have a wide variety of activities for kids of all ages.

My question is about debarking. Will the ship follow US time or European time? I don't want to be late!!!

 

[padalyn]

My question is about debarking. Will the ship follow US time or European time? I don't want to be late!!!

If these cruises follow the Panama cruise - local time is the time the ship follows. They make an announcement overhead about time changes as they occur, and then all the ships clocks are adjusted during the night. Since the 14 day will cross many time zones - I anticipate hearing quite a few of those announcements!

When we left the ship in California - it was to local time. We had already had a day in that time zone which helped a lot. I haven't checked the route with the time zones listed on it - that would tell us a little more!

 

[UMTerp]

Thank you Andrew DEREK UK, that was exactly the kind of thing I was looking for!

Congrats Renee on getting a great airfare! I'm still working that out for us.

UMTerp

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

I am shore the ship will be on local Europe time otherwise it would be very confusing, the UK is at least 5 hours in front of East Coast USA, and the area the Magic will go its at least one hour more so six in front, thats a quarter of a day!.

As posted beofre the Panama cruise was on local time all the way through.

Last thought a lot of Europeans and British will be on the cruise so we do not wish to put our watches back to USA time!! just adjust for an hour if required.

 

[MJGirl]

Hello,
just booked the 11 night med cruise!!!!!! so excited.

Hi Ruth ... Just wondered which 11 night you are booked on ... We all seem to have cruise threads going. If you are on the 7 - 7 - 7 cruise, check out the link below in my signature !

 

[PrincessJasmine08]

What do people recommend for the time change? Should you try to adjust for it while still at home? Like the week before maybe change your clocks an hour at a time? That way you could be maybe 2 or 3 hours closer to the time it really is.

Thanks for the link on the excursions, that's exactly what I was thinking of.

 

[milestogo]

Piglet33, Thanks for Aer Lingus, that was a good find!

 

[leira1989]

Padalyn and Andrew Derek UK-
Thanks for the info. As we hope to be in the UK a few days beforehand, we should be adjusted to Barcelona time when we depart!

 

[Andrew DEREK UK]

What do people recommend for the time change? Should you try to adjust for it while still at home? Like the week before maybe change your clocks an hour at a time? That way you could be maybe 2 or 3 hours closer to the time it really is.

of.

Now I often go to the USA so this is in reverse, I find going with the Sun so 'West' is easier than going against the Sun 'East'.

So going to the states, with the sun i set my watch to USA time as soon as i am on the plane, if its al ong trip try to hasve a quick nap as soon as possible, but then stay awake, on arrival stay in the sunshine and stay up until its dark or 9pm at least. Then I am on USA time.

The way back for us, your first flight is more difficult, you loose sleep on a overnight flight and loose hours say 5 or 8. Again switch over to the arrival countires time, try to have rest asap, do not drink anything other than water, and keep it light.

If you arrive early in the morning try to stay up, if you think this really will not work, ie no sleep on the flight, have a quick nap, to lunchtime and then go out and about in the sunshine.

If you sleep on arrival you will stay on USA time and then not sleep that night, and so on!

So watches on the arrival countires time asap,
Drink water, nothing else.
Stay up in the sunshine asa much as possible.

 

[slindamood]

So watches on the arrival countires time asap,
Drink water, nothing else.
Stay up in the sunshine asa much as possible.

Andrew has excellent advice, and following similar rules I have suffered very little jet lag.

A few more hints:

Start getting up early a few days before the flight (like 5 AM).

Do not watch the movie. Sleep as best you can.

Book a flight that arrives in Europe as late in the morning as possible (11:30 AM their time is 5:30 AM our time, EST).

Have meals at regular times for the new location, whether you are hungry or not. You will be less likely to wake up in the middle of the night ready for supper. And less likely to sleep too late.

Stay in the sun and keep moving on your own - do not take any naps after noon - and stay up until 9 or 10 at night. By the next morning you should feel pretty normal. But set an alarm.

 

[Ruth B]

Hi Ruth ... Just wondered which 11 night you are booked on ... We all seem to have cruise threads going. If you are on the 7 - 7 - 7 cruise, check out the link below in my signature !

Hello all,
thanks for the lovely welcome to the board. We are on the 11 night Magic on 28th of July!! is there a thred set up for this one specfically?

Great to be involved in the planning-

Out of interest, who has everyone booked with?, direct with disney, expedia, magic for less?

 

[MrsJobba1]

Hello all,
thanks for the lovely welcome to the board. We are on the 11 night Magic on 28th of July!! is there a thred set up for this one specfically?

Great to be involved in the planning-

Out of interest, who has everyone booked with?, direct with disney, expedia, magic for less?

Hi Ruth,

Yes we have a thread for the 28th July this is the link

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1064311&page=1&pp=15

Come over and join us.

I booked one person on points and one with cash through DVC.

Unlike others I have got nothing sorted yet - no excursions,no flights. Need to get some pennies in before we do!

See you soon x

 

[Ruth B]

Hi Ruth,

Yes we have a thread for the 28th July this is the link

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1064311&page=1&pp=15

Come over and join us.

I booked one person on points and one with cash through DVC.

Unlike others I have got nothing sorted yet - no excursions,no flights. Need to get some pennies in before we do!

See you soon x

Thanks for the link.....

 

[padalyn]

I work nights and am constantly switching from a day to a night schedule. I find that I try to oversleep the day before I have to flip to the other schedule. Since I shift my day by 12 hours at a time I find that if I sleep about 10 hours the day before I flip I can turn over without any trouble at all.

To flip back - I simply stay awake until it is 8 hours before I HAVE to be awake and make myself sleep.

I also find - no alcohol, no caffeine, and no chocolate since all of these will keep one awake.

I do this every other week and have for over 20 years without difficulty.

 

[piglet33]

bumping back to Page 1

 

[MJGirl]

This Monday the Bachelor starts up and is taking place in Rome... Should be interesting to see some of the sights!

 

[LisaTex]

Hi guys! Just found you! We will be on the June 16 11 day. Has anyone here heard of the Elipsos Trenhotel from Paris to Barcelona? Just considering our options and was wondering... We are considering the ABD London/Paris trip before the cruise and need a way to get to Barcelona. Just looking into options other than hoppiing on another plane. Anyone know anything about it?

Only 81/2 months to go

 

[slindamood]

Here is the link to a virtual tour of the Elipsos - the train from Paris to Barcelona - you can tour each type of room. To get a detailed floorplan, click on the little floor plan shown with the tour.

http://www.elipsos.com/flash/paseo/lnkpaseo.htm

to get the general page, go to www.elipsos.com - you can get prices by filling in earlier dates. Next summer is not posted yet. Just like planes, the earlier, the cheaper. And they have couple and family prices.