What do we need to know about a Mediterranean cruise?

[Carie Baker]

So, we've done the Bahama's on the Dream, the Western Caribbean on the Fantasy, and Alaska on the Wonder. Now we are booked for the Mediterranean on the Magic for Aug of 2017. Yes, I'm one of those planners... sorry. So anyone who's been on this cruise... please tell me what we should know. It's a 7 day out of Barcelona. What excursions are worth the time and money. Should we do something at every port. What should we look out for. Are the activities on the boat like the other itineraries? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

 

[PrincessShmoo]

So, we've done the Bahama's on the Dream, the Western Caribbean on the Fantasy, and Alaska on the Wonder. Now we are booked for the Mediterranean on the Magic for Aug of 2017. Yes, I'm one of those planners... sorry. So anyone who's been on this cruise... please tell me what we should know. It's a 7 day out of Barcelona. What excursions are worth the time and money. Should we do something at every port. What should we look out for. Are the activities on the boat like the other itineraries? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

No need to do something in every port. Unless you want to. Be aware that most Med cruises are very port intensive, and you can get worn out quickly. The onboard activities are pretty much the same as a "regular" DCL cruise.

 

[eva]

We are going on our second Med cruise with DCL in September this year. One thing to realize is that these cruises are very port intensive. That means that on port days you will not find much at all happening on the ship during the day and nights usually end pretty early. We are not night owls at all, but found ourselves closing out the lounges around 11 pm. Dinner seating run a bit later than the Caribbean cruises. Main seating around 6 or 6:15 and late seating around 8:30. A lot of people end up eating in Cabanas if they miss their seating. Be sure to explore each port if you do not do an excursion. It is Europe after all. HAVE A PLAN! I really recommend the Amalfi Coast and Pompei when in Naples. They are awesome. This time we are checking out the island of Capri on a DCL excursion. The port in Barcelona is much different than the one at Port Canaveral. If you arrive early, you will be waiting in the hot sun outside and there is absolutely nothing to do once in the terminal. So if you go early bring something to read and your patience. Last time we flew in day of the cruise. This time we will be there a day early. I recommend doing that if possible. We used to live in Europe and really know that jet lag happens worst when you go east. So that first day in Barcelona can be pretty exhausting. If you can't do that just know that you first sea day may be a drowsy one. Let me know if you have any more questions.

 

[aggiedog]

I can't speak for the Med, but we did the DCL Baltic cruise last year. We did DCL excursions for 2 ports and DIY for 2 ports (arranged thru companies found on Tripadvisor). The DIY excursions were far and above better than the DCL excursions. Either less expensive or got more for the same money, smaller groups, more flexible, usually longer.

 

[kel585]

Here's a link to my TR from our Med cruise last year, that I've still to finish
http://www.disboards.com/threads/magical-time-in-the-med-aug-2015-updated-7-12.3518809/

We're returning again this August and it will be our 4th Med cruise with DCL. We tend to pick the more relaxed options with the excursions, just a personal choice. Any specific questions, feel free to ask. Happy planning

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

So, we've done the Bahama's on the Dream, the Western Caribbean on the Fantasy, and Alaska on the Wonder. Now we are booked for the Mediterranean on the Magic for Aug of 2017. Yes, I'm one of those planners... sorry. So anyone who's been on this cruise... please tell me what we should know. It's a 7 day out of Barcelona. What excursions are worth the time and money. Should we do something at every port. What should we look out for. Are the activities on the boat like the other itineraries? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

We were in the Mediterranean last month on CCL, the ports are very intensive excursion wise. We used italytoursharing.com and loved them. I highly recommend you get involved with your cruise meet thread and book them with others. You just put in the dates for the ports you're interested in and book it. All their vans are 8 passenger Mercedes vans with a driver, and if your group wants to modify the tour they'll do it.

We did a Rome tour that included the Vatican, (with our own tour guide), the coliseum, Trevi Fountain and a few other minor stops along the way. With gratuity for the driver and tour guide it was only $160/person. That included admission into the Vatican as well.

It's a great way to do excursions in Italy.

 

[redsonja76]

They're port intensive and you'll get worn out!!! Don't try to do too much. I loved romeinlimo.com for our tours, they were fantastic!!!!!

 

[eva]

As the others have stated, booking outside excursions can save money. But that depends on the size of your group. It is just DH and myself. So that made them more expensive than DCL. It can be a good idea to find your meet thread or a group on Facebook to share excursions with. But that does make me a bit nervous. Who pays? What if they no show? Etc. It can be a good option. We did book a private guide for a tour of Cinque Terra that was awesome. But we have never shared with another group. The other thing you should realize is that DCL will not wait for you if you are on your excursion or tour that is not throught DCL and you are late. If possible, they will wait for DCL excursions that run late. On our cruise we left 11 people behind the day we were docked in Civitavecchia. Kind of stinks for them. Not only did they have to find their way to La Spezia, but we were on a 12 day cruise that went to Corsica prior to La Spezia. So they missed a port too. Just be sure to get back to the ship in plenty of time. I do agree that you should pick one or two ports that you do a lighter schedule. Maybe do two 8 to 10 hour days and then the other two do shorter 5 or 6 hour tours. We made Villefranche a light day and went to Eze and then a wine tasting. This time we are going to skip Rome. We have been a couple of times. I think we will enjoy the morning in the port city (suppose to have a nice market) and head back to the ship for lunch and a swim.

 

[disneyholic family]

We are going on our second Med cruise with DCL in September this year. One thing to realize is that these cruises are very port intensive. That means that on port days you will not find much at all happening on the ship during the day and nights usually end pretty early. We are not night owls at all, but found ourselves closing out the lounges around 11 pm. Dinner seating run a bit later than the Caribbean cruises. Main seating around 6 or 6:15 and late seating around 8:30. A lot of people end up eating in Cabanas if they miss their seating. Be sure to explore each port if you do not do an excursion. It is Europe after all. HAVE A PLAN! I really recommend the Amalfi Coast and Pompei when in Naples. They are awesome. This time we are checking out the island of Capri on a DCL excursion. The port in Barcelona is much different than the one at Port Canaveral. If you arrive early, you will be waiting in the hot sun outside and there is absolutely nothing to do once in the terminal. So if you go early bring something to read and your patience. Last time we flew in day of the cruise. This time we will be there a day early. I recommend doing that if possible. We used to live in Europe and really know that jet lag happens worst when you go east. So that first day in Barcelona can be pretty exhausting. If you can't do that just know that you first sea day may be a drowsy one. Let me know if you have any more questions.

you arrived on the day of the cruise??? were you flying in from the US? i can't imagine ever flying in the same day of a cruise, but especially flying transatlantic...
we fly to cruises in the opposite direction (flying west across the atlantic), and i always bring us in at least 3 days in advance..
too many things can go wrong....aircraft delays, strikes, weather, amongst others...

 

[disneyholic family]

So, we've done the Bahama's on the Dream, the Western Caribbean on the Fantasy, and Alaska on the Wonder. Now we are booked for the Mediterranean on the Magic for Aug of 2017. Yes, I'm one of those planners... sorry. So anyone who's been on this cruise... please tell me what we should know. It's a 7 day out of Barcelona. What excursions are worth the time and money. Should we do something at every port. What should we look out for. Are the activities on the boat like the other itineraries? Any info would be appreciated.

Thanks,

the answer depends.....have you ever been to Europe before? If you never have, then i would at the very least get off in every port to look around....
i mean, it's europe....interesting to see and all that...

actually, i have been in europe many times (and live on the Mediterranean) and i would still get off at every port...maybe only for an hour or two or three, but still at least to get off and have a cup of coffee in a nice scenic cafe....at the very least...

 

[IBelieveInTheMagic]

We are booked for the Med in 8/2017 and will absolutely explore in every port/city! I pretty much have our excursions lined up in my head already and as others have mentioned, doing private tours is amazing. Our sailing next summer actually has two sea days so it's nice to have an extra "rest day" so we can be adventurous on our port days.

Enjoy,
Heather

 

[aggiedog]

Yes, don't fly in the day of the cruise. Our trip to Italy, our flight was turned around 4 hours into the flight. We returned to Toronto, arriving past midnight, then left several hours after the NEXT planned departure the next day as our replacement plane had issues. We arrived 18 hours late to Rome, missing an entire day of our vacation.

 

[FamilyHolidayPlanner]

How are the seas on the Med cruise? Much rocking? We are booked for end of August 2017

 

[Club Disney Chandler]

How are the seas on the Med cruise? Much rocking? We are booked for end of August 2017

Like glass. At least ours on 6/3/16 was, we literally never felt the ship moving it was so smooth. Granted, while we were there it was sunny, with very light breezes and no rain or wind. It was perfect.

 

[disneyholic family]

How are the seas on the Med cruise? Much rocking? We are booked for end of August 2017

i live on the med - summer tends to be pretty calm....other times of the year, not so much...
but august should be fine...

 

[tomjude]

I can't speak for the Med, but we did the DCL Baltic cruise last year. We did DCL excursions for 2 ports and DIY for 2 ports (arranged thru companies found on Tripadvisor). The DIY excursions were far and above better than the DCL excursions. Either less expensive or got more for the same money, smaller groups, more flexible, usually longer.

Agree wholeheartedly. You will see much more and have a better time using your own tour companies. We were there summer 2014 and used driverinrome.com for our private excursions in Florence, Rome, and Athens. You can't really compare your own private tour with the Disney tours. It does take some research and work on your part to organize a private tour . All of the tour companies are very familiar with the cruise industry and there was never an issue with getting back to the ship on time , which can be an anxiety-provoking issue for some people. Some ports of call such as Ephesus in Turkey, where there was only one stop, we did do the Disney sponsored tour, which was fine. Also did a Disney sponsored tour in south of France. Be sure to research the places you are going in order to maximize your experience. Get excellent walking shoes and wear them with everything. It is hot in the summer so forget about trying to keep your hair and makeup under control. It's virtually impossible. If you've not been to Europe before I would not miss any of the ports of call. Also, consider getting to Barcelona a few days early to enjoy the City and check out TripAdvisor in order to find an apartment to stay in. Hotels have a limit to the number of people they will put in one room so we found that Apartments were much more fun and accommodating and in one instance, cheaper than an average hotel. We stayed for two days on the front end and two days on the back end of our cruise. Barcelona is a lot of fun. With the internet, the world is a much smaller place and considerably easier to negotiate. Be sure that you have a chip card for your credit cards and for cash withdrawals at ATMs.

 

[eva]

How are the seas on the Med cruise? Much rocking? We are booked for end of August 2017

Well, we did a cruise the end of August/beginning of September and the seas were rough a couple of days. The rest were pretty calm. We did lose power on the entire ship one night that was pretty freaky. When the stabilizers shut down and the ship was a rockin.

 

[eva]

We were in the Mediterranean last month on CCL, the ports are very intensive excursion wise. We used italytoursharing.com and loved them. I highly recommend you get involved with your cruise meet thread and book them with others. You just put in the dates for the ports you're interested in and book it. All their vans are 8 passenger Mercedes vans with a driver, and if your group wants to modify the tour they'll do it.

We did a Rome tour that included the Vatican, (with our own tour guide), the coliseum, Trevi Fountain and a few other minor stops along the way. With gratuity for the driver and tour guide it was only $160/person. That included admission into the Vatican as well.

It's a great way to do excursions in Italy.

Yep. We had no problems at all. Our flight got in around 8 am. We were supposed to get in the day before and Delta canceled the flight. Luckily we knew about it a few weeks out and were able to book a flight for the following day.

 

[algae]

Arrive a day or two early and stay a day or two after. That let's you really explore. Our latest Med sailing was Barcelona-Venice. Plenty of things to do at both ends to justify staying longer.

As others have said, it's very port intensive with lots of walking. I actually lost a bit over 5 pounds on that Med sailing despite all the food I ate. Get really good, comfy shoes.

Use DCL to book excursions. Traffic in major cities like Rome is horrendous. Our Rome excursion was way late getting back to the ship due to traffic, but it waited for us and many other excursions since our guide called ahead and made sure we weren't left behind. After we boarded and got moving, we saw other buses and taxi's pull up at the port, but it was too late for them. If they booked DCL, the ship would either wait or DCL would get you to the next port.

Also, if the port is having bad weather and excursions get cancelled, booking through DCL makes getting refunds and booking other excursions very easy. Don't think it would be too easy with other vendors. DCL may cost more, but the peace of mind when unexpected things happen was worth it in my experience.

 

[GPaLarry]

Our first DCL cruise was through the Panama Canal many years ago on the Magic. We were to leave Acapulco at 2pm to get in the queue for the canal. 2pm comes and we haven't moved...we were always on time. 2:15 and I tell my wife that something is wrong and I went topside to look down on the dock (we had a porthole stateroom). The processing tent was still set up with one gangplank into the ship and a bunch of crew members in white running around, thumping their watches. 2:30...nothing! Finally, at 2:45 a bus comes flying up to the dock and its riders come running out, through the tent and into the ship. Up goes the gangplank and, if it were possible, the captain would have laid rubber to get out of there. It was a DCL excursion and the bus had a flat miles from shore. The ship waited for them. I believe I heard that it cost Disney over $400,000 to go through the PC going east. No wonder they were in a hurry to leave and get in line. Time is $$!