The Med Thread - All Sailings - Mediterranean

[Whiskers]

Hi everyone
I've been lurking but now I have a question about the Disney transfers in Barcelona. We were going to take a taxi from the airport to hotel but I've been reading about the pickpocket/ bag snatching problems in Barcelona so I'm nervous and would now rather take Disney transfers. How do Disney transfers work - I've never used them before on our other cruises. We're not doing air through DCL so do I just tell them when we are due to arrive? And will they really transport just our little group of 4 or do they wait till more people arrive?

 

[slindamood]

Sorry - no information on Barcelona - but more on transfers in Paris.

For those interested in the Air France bus from the CDG airport to Paris (you don't have to fly on air france to take it) - there are four routes with regular service - check out the following - gives routes and prices
http://www.cars-airfrance.com/

If this is near your destination, may be easier than the RER for public transportation - the RER is not handicap accessible, which means you may have to carry baggage up or down several flights of stairs.

 

[konslerg]

Hi everyone
I've been lurking but now I have a question about the Disney transfers in Barcelona. We were going to take a taxi from the airport to hotel but I've been reading about the pickpocket/ bag snatching problems in Barcelona so I'm nervous and would now rather take Disney transfers. How do Disney transfers work - I've never used them before on our other cruises. We're not doing air through DCL so do I just tell them when we are due to arrive? And will they really transport just our little group of 4 or do they wait till more people arrive?

My understanding (Please, please correct me if I'm wrong.) is that Disney transfers will cover airport to hotel; hotel to ship and ship back to hotel and/or airport.

...and you must be staying at one of the Disney-booking hotels in order to take advantage of the transfers.

Gloria in Miami

 

[woody73]

CDG is Charles De Gaulle airport in paris.

CDG is north of Paris. Orly Airport (ORY) is south of Paris.

Woody

 

[woody73]

. . . While such tours may appear to be costly at 450 - 660 Euro/day, that fee covers an entire party of 6 - 8 passengers; thus, the cost per person is competitive with that of the cattle calls. . .

Seems expensive.

Woody

 

[woody73]

. . . For those interested in the Air France bus from the CDG airport to Paris (you don't have to fly on air france to take it) - there are four routes with regular service - check out the following - gives routes and prices . . .

We took the Air France bus a few times, and have been pleased. We took it most recently in March 2006 because the RER station at CDG was closed due to a bomb threat (that's another story).

One nice thing about the AF bus is you need not worry about pickpockets since it does not have intermediate stops. So you can sit back and enjoy the view -- it travels at ground level.

Woody

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

question for the panel:

the waters in the western Med during late June - early July ...
smooth, rough, comparable to ?





now back to "Transportation Talk"

 

[BigBlueMan]

question for the panel:

the waters in the western Med during late June - early July ...
smooth, rough, comparable to ?

W-E-T.....
(now what does this "I speak WHALE" thing mean, anyway?

 

[jlawall]

Are you familiar with the movie, Finding Nemo?

BTW, I would also like to know about the seas in the Med in the summer....

 

[J&B_Disney]

I had DCL book us from Toronto - Barcelona and then Orlando - Toronto for $1,900 for the two of us. Granted I still need to get from Edmonton - Toronto and then Toronto - Edmonton but I can do that with my Air Miles for little cost.

I checked Air Canada last night (July 2007 not August) and the multi city ticket from Edmonton - Barcelona and then Orlando - Edmonton was $3,800 and that was just for one person. Crazy!!

 

[OurDogCisco]

I had DCL book us from Toronto - Barcelona and then Orlando - Toronto for $1,900 for the two of us. Granted I still need to get from Edmonton - Toronto and then Toronto - Edmonton but I can do that with my Air Miles for little cost.

Wow, that is a great rate. The best I could get with Disney is around 1700 per person from SFO and airport that is 2 hours from my home. So I know I can do better.

 

[scottishwee35]

MV Photon had posted this on the regular Cruise page so I thought I'd copy it and move it over here.

http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?t=1184080



Many veteran Mediterranean cruisers assert that their experiences have been enhanced via the use of private tour guides at several ports.

Potential advantages include:
customized itineraries
see exactly what you want
leave once you've seen enough
luxury Mercedes mini-vans
access to ancient & narrow inner-city streets, off-limits to large buses
not touring with lots of other people's children (...sorry!)
no waiting for stragglers to return to the bus
opportunity to bypass lines at popular attractions (w/ licensed guides)
While such tours may appear to be costly at 450 - 660 Euro/day, that fee covers an entire party of 6 - 8 passengers; thus, the cost per person is competitive with that of the cattle calls.

While I claim no first-hand expertise, I have spent many hours perusing the Boards at several cruise forums (e.g. – www.cruisecritic.com) to compile this list of recommended firms & guides at Disney Cruise Lines’ 2007 European ports of call, in rough order of the frequency & enthusiasm of endorsements:

Barcelona
www.pepitotours.com/private-tours-barcelona.html Jose Soler
http://wwguides.com/forums/member.php?u=243
www.gobarcelona.com/
BCNtour-taxi Armando Panedas
(34) 60-419-756 armandopanedas@vodafone.es
www.barcelonatourguides.com/ Patrick
http://www.taxiinternacional.com/en...ternacional.htm Angie

Palermo, Sicily
www.easytoursicilia.it/indexe.htm Sylvano Lunetta
www.sicily-tour.com/ Stephen Davies
www.sicilylife.com/Tours.htm

Don’t miss the Capuchin Catacombs:http://www.palermoweb.com/sottopale...cappuccini1.htm

Naples (Pompeii)
http://driveamalfi.com/ Salvatore Lucibello, Adriano, Roberto
www.drivesorrento.com/ Nello Russo
www.seesorrento.com/chi_sono_eng.html Marcello Maresca, Eugiene, Marco
www.aptours.it/Site/default.asp?Lang=EN Alberto
www.francescomarrapese.com/excursions.htm Francesco
www.pleasantravel.com/index.htm Mariano Fiorentino
www.jackthedriver.com/ Jack, Lorenzo Bianco
www.benvenutolimos.com/ Giovanni
http://www.sorrentocardrivers.com/S...ult.asp?Lang=EN Raffael
www.cuomonet.it/ Renato
http://aldotaxi.net/ Aldo
www.driverinrome.com …but avoid Guiliana
http://tourofitaly.com/
www.hiddenitalytours.com/ Mariano Fiorentino

Olbia, Sardinia


Civitavecchia (Rome)
www.limoinrome.com/home.htm Claudio Caponera , Fabrizio
www.driverinrome.com/ Daniele Melaragno, Remo (his father), Pepe, Manny
http://romeinlimo.com/ Duman & Carlo
www.romelimousineservice.com/ Max Leotta
www.romecabs.com/ Stefano Costantini
www.romeconnection.com/ Marco

Don’t miss the Scavi Tour (Vatican necropolis):http://www.vatican.va/roman_curia/i...0040112_en.html

La Spezia (Florence / Pisa)
www.florencetour.com/ Paola Migliorni
www.tuscanyinmypocket.com/ Guido
www.abcwine.it/off shore.htm Carla Giomi
www.papillonservice.com/ Lisa, Roberto
www.tuscanybytaxi.it/ Ricardo
www.sunflower-tours.com/services.htm Giovanni Sirabella
www.limoinrome.com/home.htm Claudio
Alessandro Cammilli alecamma@hotmail.com
Pauline Priore paulinep@tin.it

Pre-book tickets to Ufizi and Academia Galleria:www.florenceart.it/
Dial 011 (U.S. international access code) 39 (Italy's country code) 055-294-883 during the hours of 8:30 AM -6:30 PM M-F & 8:30-12:00 Sat. Florence time.

Pre-book to Leaning Tower of Pisa (available 45 – 16 days in advance): www.opapisa.it/boxoffice/index.jsp

Marseilles
http://rendez-vous-provence.com/en/contact.html Olivier N’guyen
www.taxidurand.com/guide2.htm
www.provence-taxi-tourisme.com/
http://www.provence-travel.com/prov...ers/cities.html Catherine D'Antuono
http://provencesightseeing.com/
http://provencetours.free.fr/accueil_anglais.htm
Villefranche (Monte Carlo / Cannes / Nice)
www.revelation-tours.com/cruise.html Michel LeGrand, Isoline
www.dream-tours.com/layout.php?page=106&lang=us Alain, Frederic, Jean Marc
www.azur-guides-interpretes.com/ Sylvie DiCristo
www.riviera-prestige-tours.com/ Eva Devemy

P.S.- The more renowned guides are often booked up months or more ahead of time. More than a year in advance, we have already reserved our guides (the top on each list) for the 28 July 2007 11-day cruise.

Hi

Sound great but.......

We have been looking at Cruise Critic Cruise reviews and sound good that hire private etc like above and yes it is expensive but worth to have share 6 to 8.

Again, we both are disability that we both are deaf and wonder if it is suitable for us to have hire private. As communicate will be problem for us, I can lipread and talking but my point of view that I think it would not suitable for us unless someone who book it and we are happy to share with it.

We have to wait and see what Disney own excursion first as won't come out until 105 days.

Perhaps, we like to do own trip but again might be difficult as we cannot hearing in different place, for example, like rome, etc , different languages well.

Hopeful, if we get an interpreter in disney cruise, maybe we should pay the interpreter to come with us and help us the conversations??

Are any deaf people are going to Med. Cruise??

I will be happy if anyone who can give me any ideas.

Thank you.

Scottishwee35

 

[Doingitagain]

We are traveling for a week after the cruise. Has anyone looked into shipping dress clothes home after the cruise? It would be nice not to have to carry that extra luggage around for a week.

 

[Soccermom-Cheri]

We are traveling for a week after the cruise. Has anyone looked into shipping dress clothes home after the cruise? It would be nice not to have to carry that extra luggage around for a week.

dress clothes? oh yeah, that formal night thing ... think DCL would change it to a tropical night if we asked nicely? yeah, I didn't think so. Can you ship a box from whatever hotel you stay at after you get off of the ship? Maybe you could give it to Ray and ... yeah maybe not that either. Cheri is 0 for 2 ...

 

[Scott H]

We are traveling for a week after the cruise. Has anyone looked into shipping dress clothes home after the cruise? It would be nice not to have to carry that extra luggage around for a week.

I went to teh Fedex and UPS sites a while back and kinda recall a 10kg box costing about $80.00 to ship. Could be wrong but that is what I recall.

 

[Doingitagain]

Can you ship a box from whatever hotel you stay at after you get off of the ship?

We are leaving Barcelona the same day we get off the ship and flying to the UK (hopefully). I would love not to have to drag extra luggage with us.

 

[slindamood]

We travel in Europe each summer, and I always ship home a box at least once (we travel quite light on trains etc.). This summer I shipped a box from Amsterdam - 12" x 8" x 20" - it held quite a lot. I bought the box at the post office and shipped it for about $30 (with euro about 1.3 to $1 U.S., including exchange fees). That is a fairly typical price for most countries.

Look on a map of Barcelona - there will be a post office in a central location - you can buy a box or two there before the cruise - flat- can take it onboard- and ship it when you get off.

I have seen people ship suitcases. Not in a box, not wrapped. Just a suitcase. Have not tried it, but might if it meant traveling without that tux and formal wear.

 

[woody73]

. . . I have seen people ship suitcases. Not in a box, not wrapped. Just a suitcase. Have not tried it, but might if it meant traveling without that tux and formal wear.

I own a tux, but would rent on a Med cruise.

Woody

 

[slindamood]

Speaking of renting tuxes, I believe that a FL company does the tuxes for cruises out of CC. Has anyone heard about how the tux rental will be handled out of Barcelona? I can't imagine a cruise that does not offer tux rental, but this will be a bit different.

 

[CubCatsK&D]

I have a question for all you experienced cruisers: How much time should I allow for getting off the ship and getting to the airport?

According to the schedule, the ship gets into port at 6:45 a.m. on Wednesday. (We're on the first cruise, May 26-June 6.) I know it's a whole different country, port, and airport, but based on your experience, what would be the earliest you would book your return flight?

Thanks for any insight.