Updated Page 1...Madly Making Memories Multiply in Mediterranean Mickey Mode-Pre-trip

[lmhall2000]

HA! I didn't even realize we'll probably be at the airport at the same time!! We might get 5 minutes to share stories and how to's! I know your parents will have a great time...I think there are enough differences with a Disney cruise to keep them engaged...I think simply rotating restaurants and keeping your servers is a unique touch. We have always traveled at all ages with our children...flew from Seattle-Disneyland with a 5 month old, 1 year old and 3 year old...same thing but to Orlando 2 years later, and took them to England 3 years ago...we really enjoy traveling and they have the most amazing memories...even if it's just pictures from when Minnie held them as a baby!

Have a great trip and will be looking forward to all your planning and trip reports!!!
T

 

[shushh]

Forgot to mention this earlier...I like how you've reserved the spots for your trip report. Makes for an easier read down the track! When you're reading a trip report, you don't want to have to sort through other people's waffle, you just want to get to the good stuff!

I now need to find the time to sit down and organise my brain to write my pre-trip report. But quite motivated now!

 

[lmhall2000]

Seeing Green or Red?

We have an offer on our house!! (Insert thrills, excitement, joy!) We have an offer on our house #$$%(@* (insert frustration, )


I could write 2 pages on all the particulars, but praying we'll be seeing green through all this red.

Through it all our ability to be joyful in trial has been tested...being an adult can be rather taxing...but this burden is so light compared to the fear earlier in the year for our daughter's health and knowing families suffering much more important challenges. The loss of our dear uncle, the pain my aunt suffers without him....I can handle this...a cruise sure will help take us out of here...there should be a ship named Calgon.

Mrs. T

(Shushh, I rely on trip reports so much to help me plan, it is soo time consuming reading through 28 pages of reports to find out how they booked x-y-z or how they dealt with a-b-c-...I hope this approach helps others wanting to plan that great family/personal getaway!! Get started on yours, I can't wait!)

 

[lmhall2000]

Packing EARLY!!

It is almost a little bit pitiful how I feel when I find a bargain. I've been patiently waiting for that time when the department stores move all their leftovers to an obscure little rack you'd need to find with a tracking device. They make you pass through all the racks of fall stuff and tempt you with those 20-30% off "holiday" sales...but my mind is made up, I know they're here somewhere and OILA!!! What do I see before my very big bulging brown eyes?? $4.99 or less rack!! Oh my!! They're Ralph Lauren shorts, granted I'd never pay full price ($79!!) for these puppies, but they're sewn well, decent quality material and last forever! If I waited to buy them before our cruise in April or May, I might find them for $39-49..but $4.99?? NO way!! Even found two shirts that retailed at $98 for $4.99...they're fun, have Marlins on them, something my family would never wear but hey, we're going to be the biggest ol' tourons out there! (A phrase used by those in the service industry in big tourist towns....combo of tourist and morons...but it sounds cooler just to say tourons...that's us!!)

Then it's off to find sundresses for the girls to wear....I am sorry, you can just NOT find decent/appropriate wear for 10-11 year olds..it's either frou frou with scratchy stuff all over it (we're all about the comfort, not the fashion) or it's 'DON'T BEND OVER IN THAT BLOUSE!!!' and way too many embarrassing moments for pre-teens!! My internal homing device is working overtime and I can spot that 70% off and take an additional 30% off sign anywhere!! Pushing through all those overstuffed/overpriced racks of fall frou frou, I reach the summit! Even the girls are getting into it! We never (I did say NEVER) shop!! I buy things off season, online and they wear whatever is left in their size, they are not yet at the stage where they know they could refuse to wear something, they're just happy to have something in their drawers! So, to see them pull off racks and show me something and my response is always "that's nice, honey, HOW MUCH??" When that price comes in at $11.99 and I still have yet to see that 30% taken off, I'm down with it, cooler than cool, flippin flapjacks happy!

We managed to get them 9 dresses between them for less than $60!! The problem is they want to wear them for playing around the house and dressup..I have to convince them that it's special cruise wear and we must keep them in their plastic bags until the cruise. Same for the men, I have a no wear cruise wear clothes until cruise...once I'm done shopping for cruise clothes I don't want to have to shop again, try and find it, dry clean it or repair it...straight from store-closet-suitcase....there, I can check off another 'to do'...between what I've bought and what they already have, we should have close to everything, except shoes to go with formal dresses..will anyone notice if we go flip flop formal??

Mrs. T

 

[lmhall2000]

The Good, the Better, The Pits

Well, daily checking (okay about tri-daily checking..meaning every third day not 3x a day) of airline fares has made me a little anxious about this trip...right now it sits at $888 pp...eek! That's as much as the cruise almost! Well, I was able to look at our spending last month and cutting back all those corners we were able to come up with 1k extra...so with 7 months of sailing...the cruise should be paid off. (GOOD)..not sure how we'll manage the airfare. So far so good. (We have a tradition of eating out as a family after church on Sunday...I've managed to convince them to eat at Sam's Club each Sunday..so a $60 meal now is a $12 meal!! YAHOO!!) They're going to tire of brats/pizza pretty soon, so trying to figure out how to appease them.

Well, yesterday, it just got BETTER I was able to check online for 2 cat 12's (we had booked 2 12's with kids sail free and it was about 7k)....but now they were offering cat 12's for 999 a person!! I read where another sailer had managed to get kids free AND the great rate! I went to Disney online and it WORKED My 7k trip just now went to 4k!!! I could sit and question all the why's....1. Their release of the excursion fees for Mediterranean ports sent a lot of people cancelling....2. Having Oasis of the Seas just sucked a lot of dye hard cruisers to the competition.....3. Most of their regular cruisers are saving for the DREAM experience...ah, but I won't speculate, I'll just CELEBRATE on my new found savings!! If my planning goes well, Disney just helped me save for my airfare.... Someone put a thread out a few weeks ago about what would be your best incentive to make you book a cruise, my 'dream' was that Disney would pay for my airfare and cruise and let kids sail free...SEEEE!!! Dreams really do come true, technically they're not paying for the airfare, but they afforded me to be able to!

The Pits...the offer on our house was outrageous. Houses in our area have declined about 9%..we're not as hard hit as others...so they offered us 20% off our house much less than we even paid for it 5 years ago...I imagined it was just someone throwing out an offer on a house they knew they could resell and make a profit....we're tight and a bit desperate but not foolish. We're sitting in a good spot b/c our builder finally sold his last house in that subdivision and won't undercut the resales...Not one resale has sold in 18 months! There are 7 of them and we're the most strategically priced..and thousands of people are moving into our area from other areas...lots of building going on, two new high schools going up...so we feel we're in a good spot....wish feelings could pay the mortgage!
More pits...at Thanksgiving my 11 year old stepped on a large plastic "jacks" toy, it went an inch into her heel....she's on crutches and not sure how this will affect her Irish dancing skills....eek!! She's in so much pain....then my other daughter with all the health issues this year was in severe pain on our 3 hour ride home last night, her head was hurting her so badly, then it was her neck...I was so fearful that it might be meningitis (anytime neck pain comes on sudden like that) but I reminded myself that meningitis usually also has light sensitivity related to it and so far no complaints...10 minutes later she's asking her sister to turn off the reading light because it hurts her so badly...great, we're in the middle of Mississippi and hours away from any hospital...mommy factor starts to really panic...but we switch drivers, I sit in the third row van seat and have her lay in my lap the rest of the ride home, that seemed to help. She's still sleeping, but why is it this child has her body just wrecked this year?? Ever since her prolonged illness she has been pale as a ghost, she's been tested for anemia, so many other things and nothing presents. All the grandkids were running and playing and came in with red faces and worn out, she was worn out but she never has a red face even after an hour of gymnastics or dancing...she used to always have color in her face...just another reason for a mommy to worry...the PITS.

Update: Tink is still using crutches but feels much better, she says she can do the Irish dancing b/c it's mostly on her toes, ouch, but one bad step and she's going to be in pain..need to give it more time. Ariel woke up with a bad headache but felt fine throughout most the day, then the neck pain started again and she was crying...I might take her in to the doctor just to check her iron levels or such...this poor child had probably 3 antibiotics in her life before the illness at Christmas, she was so healthy...to see her suffer all these acute maladies and not have answers for her is the PITS. We have literally seen 15 pediatricians and specialists in 4 different cities (even had an appt at Mayo clinic before she started recovering in August)...and no one has answers other than to say the strep ravaged her body, oh and others simply said ignore the strep, she must be a carrier...they almost give up when the tests they run don't point them into a direction they want to go. It's really infuriating.

Mrs. T

 

[lmhall2000]

Pigs fly

I can not remember the last time I ever paid full price for ANYTHING!! I have spent 8 hours haggling car dealers, spending hours getting that camera at half off, finding dining room chairs that were $350 a piece for $15 a piece...I firmly believe in being a good steward of the money my dh works so hard to earn (hey, I was the breadwinner the first 8 years of our marriage while he finished school and helped with the babies...so he's had some help!)....but I just did it...I paid full price. Not that I didn't try...I tried 3 different times to 'haggle' or cut a deal..all to no avail. With the savings I just made by rebooking the cat 12 deal...I figured I better go for it...when will I EVER be back to Italy with my family?

I scoured the reviews and looked for a driver for the Naples/Pompeii port. There were several good ones that I looked at...
Salvatore at info@driveamalfi.com
Renato at recuomo@tin.it (These were the cheapest at 350 euro for the day)
Stefano at romecabs@yahoo.com (450 euros discounted)
but I decided on Marcello with Sorrento tours marcellomaresca@tin.it

I picked him because I read several reviews and none of them were negative...everyone has an off day, so this was pretty encouraging...plus he takes you off the beaten path by taking you to a farm and letting you see how they make things then you get to eat the stuff off the farm for lunch! I think the kids and my parents would really appreciate getting that close to a slice of life in Italy...I don't think they would get that experience in another restaurant along the way.

I actually did not book Marcello, he was already booked for that day, apparently the Ruby Princess will also be in port..hence, another reason to book these excursions early! But he has an assistant we will be with and we'll meet Marcello at the farm for lunch with his other guests. I had to choke on the price...550 euro for the tour, 100 euro for the private guide at Pompeii, 77 euro for entrance fee for Pompeii and 20 euro per person for lunch. I have read of others spending a few hundred on a meal for 7 in Rome...so I figured this is the only time I can do this...and we can sacrifice more things at home to make this happen...plus the money I just saved on the cruise more than covers this excursion...now the true test will be if I can honestly say it was worth it when we return?? Stay tuned to day 5 on the cruise report to find out!

But paying full price?? Eek! It still hurts a little.

Mrs. T

 

[lmhall2000]

COUNTDOWNS

It's official, Thanksgiving is over and tomorrow starts my official weigh in. I have an aggressive goal but not one that I haven't accomplished before..but the older I get the harder it seems my body wants to cooperate. Just the thought of eating without worry on the cruise is going to keep me away from all the foods that are not good for me. Fresh veggies/lean meats/whole grains and water..I am going to try and cut out diet Dr. Pepper...it's my vice...I just have to have one every other day...it used to be one a day...but no more, I might allow unsweet tea....I'm not a coffee drinker so I have to get a little caffeine somehow.

Now Grumpy also needs to lose. We as a family are going to commit to 1 hour of med-high activity a day...we should get quite a bit accomplished, I'm counting mucking the barn and refreshing the stalls as med. labor....weeding...sweeping out porches/garages/fall cleaning for Christmas decorations...it's our goal to lose XXX amount of pounds, I'll post our losses for each month and let you know if we're on track! Goofy is earning a physical fitness merit badge so we're doing push ups (gee, me on knees, I don't know if I'll ever manage on toes), sit ups, running...my arms are already sore...

All the X's will be filled in when we reach cruising time...

I weigh XXX and I want to weigh 155

Grumpy weighs XXX and he wants to weigh 175

But most of all we want our BMI to be in the normal range...we'll post these as we get closer! Here's to letting a cruise be the pot at the end of the rainbow...well, I guess working so hard to get in shape is no rainbow, but it's the only saying I could think of.

I also have a 3 day countdown before our cruise shirts will be ready. Our last Disney trip (5 years ago) I tried to make the tie-dye Mickey swirl....I spent all those hours sewing with dental floss and dyeing...and they looked amazing when wet, but when I washed them 90...no 95% of the color went out, you could just barely make out splashes of color here and there...I was so disappointed I just took a sharpie marker and traced the Mickey outline and wrote "Mom failed tie dye 101" on the shirts...it was pitiful....I'm ready for whatever that word is when an olympic runner stumbles at the gate and returns the next Olympics to prove that he/she can finish the race! What is that word!!! It's not payback, it's not retribution, it's not comeuppance...ugh!!! Grumpy was no help, but he agreed I failed on the last shirts. They were all like "Do we really have to wear these??" So I've got 8 shirts (yes only 7 going on this trip, but I just know one of them is going to mess up) and I figure if I don't mess up I'll have one extra shirt to pass out to someone in need on the cruise or on the port stops...hey, maybe I'll just take the extra shirt with us everywhere we go and you just watch, there will be that moment where someone will NEED a shirt...I can't tell you how many times that has happened to us...I never carry umbrellas in my car, but for some reason I had 2 of them in there...not a day later someone was walking along a busy road and the sky fell out of nowhere, it was pouring, I rolled down my window and gave them an umbrella....what are the odds???

So I'm trying an untested approach..a new product called Fashion Art Resist should not allow the fabric dye to penetrate where I used it, so I drew on (it's a gel like substance) Mickey swirls and I have to let it dry for 24 hours...then I use fabric paint to paint over it....did any of you catch it? The Resist product says it blocks dye..well, I'm using paint...I have NO idea if this will work on paint...we shall find out. If it works, I'll have some cute shirts, if it fails, at least these shirts will HAVE COLOR!!!! The kids are helping me paint them all tomorrow, then we have a waiting game, we must wait 72 hours before washing to see if that gel resisted all that paint.

Oh, and I bought XL's thinking they were 100% cotton and we'd like them roomy, the problem is they did not shrink an inch...so I'm already starting off in a deficit, we'll look like the balloon family coming through...maybe I could cinch mine with a belt, hoping I have a waist to cinch in May!!

Step One

Step Two

Dog hair and shirt paint...do not mix!!

Countdown starts now.....

 

[shushh]

You're doing a great job saving everyone else money by the way! I saw your post on the general board about airfares. Did that fit into your travel dates? We paid AUS $1800 for airfares...(about US$1600). Gonna PM you my word doc now!

 

[lmhall2000]

You're doing a great job saving everyone else money by the way! I saw your post on the general board about airfares. Did that fit into your travel dates? We paid AUS $1800 for airfares...(about US$1600). Gonna PM you my word doc now!

Thanks so much for the document!! It's going to help so much in sitting down with my parents and planning it all out! Alas, no, the travel dates were outside of my travel time, but Delta each week puts out new fares and most for international travel start at $199 one way up to $349...so as long as I keep checking it should come down soon! That would be a great Christmas gift for us! That's a really good fare from Australia! How many stops do you have? We hope one day to visit Australia, my husband's company has offices there or clients (not sure which) and he could eventually make a trip, we would definitely go with him for a stay!!!

 

[shushh]

That's a really good fare from Australia! How many stops do you have?

I forgot to mention that's per adult. It is much better than the prices previously but with 3 children at 75% each...ouch! Luckily we only have 2 stops. One at Singapore for a plane change and one at Milan for a refuelling stop.

*When* you get to Australia let me know!

 

[lmhall2000]

Well, I guess you are coming a lot longer way! I'm not even sure! And you're probably limited on cities you can fly out of. I guess I have about 5 cities I could hit to get to Barcelona (NY, Miami, Dallas, DC, Atlanta) from where I live so there is a bit more competition....I just like finding those gotta snaggem deals!! Keep all the port info coming, you're great!!!

Tara

 

[shushh]

Haha! Flattery will get you everywhere! Fortunately (or unfortunately depending on how you see it), yes we have limited choice as we mostly have to fly out of major cities, so that's about 5 total for all of Australia...

We have to go further...marginally. Our total flight time is 22hr 45mn (25hr 40min with connections)

I finally got to read your document properly last night. Thank you! It is very handy and neat!

 

[lmhall2000]

IS that a RAINBOW behind that Funnel Cloud?

Well, I'm not going to use the 'seeing green' font because we're taking a big hit on the sale of our house..we're still getting a bit more than we paid for it 5 years ago, but much less than it's valued at with 30 months of mortgage against our equity, it's pretty much an even break, we'll get all our equity back but not all those mortgage payments c'est la vie!....so I'm seeing "blue"....I'm seeing peace and answer to prayer...it's almost surreal, because we don't know how to live without 2 mortgages! The couple who offered us the ridiculous amout came up almost to our sales price...I do not like it when they try that tactic..if I had a 'teaching lesson' bigger bone in my body I'd not accept their offer...but business is business and you can't judge an action..oh did I mention they're selling their house for twice what ours is and paying cash? Oh well, bitter bone growing, must squash it. They gave us their final last week and we gave them ours and husband was asking me everyday if we'd heard from them..I was confident they'd come back he was not. Sure enough Sunday night they call our realtor and ask if we'd honor our last offer...oh it's so tempting to say NO!! SQUASH!!

So does this mean I'm going to go nuts and book those airline tickets at the going rate for security? Absolutely not! I'm holding out for the great deals, booking to fly in the morning of the cruise and get this, I'm shooting for the 10:00 am departure out of Barcelona! Nah, I'm more like why does this put people in an anxious spot? It really comes down to convenience, I don't want to pack a 'hotel' bag and all that, I want to pack once, get on the ship, let it all get undone, pack again and get on a plane and GO HOME!! Believe me, I NEED this vacation but it's the longest we'll be away and I worry more about whoever is house sitting our animals (dogs, horses, cats...yes, I'm asking that they be fed....I hate cats) than stretching our time and not rushing home. I am an early riser and getting off the ship at 7am is not a problem for me, I'll probably be up at 5:00 and eat the banana I snatched from the snack bar the night before...it's a lot easier to travel at 7am to the airport than at 9am when thousands are trying to leave the ship, yes, now that would cause me anxiety...I don't do lines.. But it should make for some interesting "Did they make it??" scenarios!

One more day until I can wash the T-shirts and see if I yet failed again at vacation memorabilia....even the girls as they were helping me paint the shirts, said, "At least this time the shirts will have color!" and my oldest daughter said, "Mommy, I really liked the old shirt, I did wear it didn't I?" Hmmm...somehow that look on her face when we pulled it out of the dryer 5 years ago said something different, bless their sweet hearts for remembering the good!!

So, this is to encourage all you folks out there facing financial crises. It's just a bump, it may seem insurmountable at times, but it's how we carry on through them that teaches our children/friends what is important. Life goes on and we can not measure the success of it by how much we have in our bank account, but by how much we give of ourselves to those brought into our lives either by birth, marriage or serendipity...love is the greatest of all of these. Sappy, but true.

This note dedicated to Uncle Len, who showed us all how to love and prayed so hard for our house to sell, I think he had a hand in it from Heaven. Aunt Patsy, Uncle Len with Tink, Ariel and Goofy!

Mrs. T

 

[lmhall2000]

Gray skies are gonna clear up! Put on a cruisin' face!!

Well, it's no Michelangelo...but my family will wear it with pride after the last fiasco called "Family Trip" shirt...I would not recommend the Fashion Art Resist product with the fabric paints, it works, but I had to wash it twice and I'm still scraping off the paint...it kind of gooed up but easily comes off, but who wants to sit and scrape off goo?? I guess if you used the glue or flour and water mixture you're still scraping, but yuck. I'll write names on them next, but didn't want to go to the trouble of using stencils if it wasn't going to work...so first Christmas gift under the tree CHECK!! Granted they've all seen them, but they're still getting wrapped....gotta get creative when your Christmas gift is a cruise trip 5 months away!!

 

[lmhall2000]

Fall time snow in the South!

Surprises just all around! Woke up today and discovered snow on our pastures! Wow!! I can not remember ever seeing snow this early. We usually only get 0 inches of snow a year, so we're AHEAD!!

The two babes that I'm working to get kid-broke (no such thing) but at least kid-tolerant and gentle so they can help bring out some special moments in the lives of some deserving kids!!

Tara

 

[lmhall2000]

"Oh you should never ever doubt what no one is sure about"

Five points for whoever can guess what movie the above quote comes from...but it fits my state of mind right now. The house was inspected, nothing of note on the inspection but the buyers noticed 'foundation cracks' on a corner of the house that ran up about 2 feet from the ground and only in the mortar, not the bricks, no cracked drywall, nonetheless they're bringing a structural engineer tomorrow...so we still don't know if we'll have a sold house or not.

I don't know if this will be the last month we'll have to pay that mortgage...if I knew it was going to close, I might have the daring nature to find some small gifts for my children for Christmas, but I am saving all excess funds to pay off the cruise...then I try to convince myself I just saved almost 3k with the latest price drop for the cruise, but then I convince myself we don't have airfare locked in yet...I did find something very small for Goofy that I know he'll be surprised to see (less than $10) but hard to go over that...once I start 'shopping' you just find it hard to stop...I think I may give them a special certificate payable on the closing of the house...they can go and spend their money, save it, blow it...I did take them today to buy small gifts for each other so they will have gifts wrapped...they really enjoyed that! And part of me likes the idea of focusing on the season and not the gifts and showing what a blessing it is to shine a light on family and not things. Blast this materialistic society, can't believe I even just rationalized not having wrapped 'bought' presents under a tree...SQUASH! I wish we could squash all the lesser sides of ourselves and never put another thought to them!

Visions of pirate planning in my head. Not even sure if the Med cruises have a pirate night, but I thought it would be easy to pack red/white striped socks and Minnie Mouse fabric bandanas...that's as far as we can go...okay, maybe some gold hoop earrings...I haven't worn earrings in 10 years, surely I have a pair of those somewhere. Somehow it's just hard to plan not knowing if this is the real deal closing...I don't know what's worse, knowing you have 2 mortgages or knowing you might not.


Mrs. T

 

[shushh]

The T-shirts look great!

I have all my fingers and toes crossed for the sale of your house. I can truly empathise. When we were trying to sell our apartment, we had 2 buyers pull out at the last minute... So here's a load of pixie dust for you and your family.

well, while you're having snow (much more fun in my opinion). We're sweltering in heat today!

 

[lmhall2000]

Wii gonna make someone vewii happy!

Am I a mean mommy, a dedicated mommy, a sly mommy or just a mommy who sees a child who needs a lesson taught. I have to admit, we are blessed with great kids...but no matter how great any of us are, we are still going to falter and have our own personal stumbling blocks. My son does chores with a servant's heart, he is the first to help a buddy in need, is a great student...but his speed bump is video games, even though he's 14 we don't allow any violent games, but even with a game like Zelda or E rated games he can play and play and lose track of time and responsibilities. We tried grounding him, taking it away, but when it's consistently a common factor in the few areas he fumbles in (not finishing school work, not completing a chore, lying to make us think he didn't play etc.) something had to be done.

So today, when I realized only 1/2 his work had been completed but he had plenty of time to play Wii....I pulled all the games (16 of them) all the controllers, fit board, and took a picture and put my first item up for sale on ebay. Now, all is not lost, we're not 'buying' Christmas presents this year, but luck of all luck, dh won an Xbox game at a raffle at a seminar he attended last month...the kids don't know it, but they will get it Christmas...the key here is following up on what we promised, I told him I would rather sell the Wii than see it cause him to stumble. So, I have it for sale!

The great thing with Xbox is that you can lock it with a code...so we'll have a little more parental control until that trust can be built back. I am hoping some family out there who likes E rated games and wants to try the Wii Fit will get a good deal on the set. Whatever we make will be used to buy a game for each child and the rest goes into their first savings account we're trying to finally open...

Parenting is not fun sometimes, but then when you see your children respond not in anger or frustration but in sincere disappointment in their own actions...it hits home that they 'got' it....they know we love them and although it's tough to do these things...their character and attitude are worth the pain. Just another reason why these kids deserve a great vacation!! It's been a tough year all around...good news on the house, they found no structural issues, but their 'mickey mouse' list is about to make me blow steam out of my ears...but to be done with it, I'll get a handyman to do the fixes...mostly caulking stuff, and moving dirt?? oh my.

The airfare is getting so close! They keep running specials but your trip must start before March 28th and finish by May 15th....come on, just need a May 5th start flight....come on, just this last thing to seal the deal!!

Mrs. T

 

[satish]

very nice report. We (me,wife and my 2 kids (9&5) are planning to take the 5/15 11 night cruise. I am definitely getting a lot of information from you guys. If you can share with me any insight on your tour details like which private company and what was the price you paid(was there any room for negotiations etc) that will be just awesome.

Thanks in advance

 

[lmhall2000]

satish!

You've given me a great idea, I need to go back and put in costs/contacts for the excursions as I plan them...the only one I have planned and most likely will plan is the Naples stop. There are 7 in our group and we hired a driver for the day for 550 euros...there were some I found for as low as 300 euros but I could not find any reviews on them, so I am booking the one that has a good record from other travelers (using TripAdvisor, cc, and other sites) We also hired a tour guide for Pompeii (100 euro) and entrance into the area is about 12-15 euro I believe. Here are some quotes I received from other drivers...
recuomo@tin.it
This is Renato driver from Sorrento, I have been very pleased to receive
your e-mail and I'll be happy to drive you in Italy in Naples and
Civitavecchia port Rome for the day trip, this is the quotation for 7 people
by van:
Naples port Pompei/Amalfi coast, 8:00am-5:00pm Euro 350
Civitavecchia port Rome, Tour of Rome, 8:00am-5:00pm Euro 450.
The trip will be made with English speaking driver.
info@driveamalfi.com
The cost for 4-6 Passengers is 550 Euros and for> 7-8 Passengers it is 650 Euros excluding lunch and entrance> fees.The prices are per Van with our Tours being conducted> in a fully air conditioned Mercedes Limovan that offer> you maximum comfort and visability.

That will give you a bit of information on where to start, but I highly recommend googling "Amalfi drivers" or something along those lines and look for reviews...some reviews are great on some because they take them to great shopping venues...we're not shoppers so while they may be great drivers it wasn't our kind of tour. We were looking for a driver who would take us off the main roads and give us a slice of life for a typical Italian family...reading the various reviews helps give you an idea of which drivers will make this a memory of a lifetime!

If I were traveling with kids that young, (we took ours to England at that age) I would ask a driver to hit the hidden parks and picnic there..my kids loved all the parks in London and falconry centres..or visiting a running farm and picking veggies/grapes! There are castles around as well, so you might do a tour of one of those..

If you need more drivers, I think I emailed about 8 of them! Not many will deal with you, they take cash after the trip so pre-paying doesn't really appeal to them, I don't think most have a way to accept payment early...unless it's the bigger companies..I try to stick with the mom/pop type of establishments (one-two drivers one-two cars )

Mrs. T