Who's in for GREECE and TURKEY, June 15 2003????

[MinnieDiva]

For anyohne looking for information about the hotels DCL is using in Barcelona, here's what we've learned.

Renaissance Barcelona (was AC Diplomatic (Marriott)) DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $408/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

Hilton Diagonal Mar DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $416/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

We went ahead and added two nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise at the Renaissance Barcelona through DCL. You can cancel for a full refund as long as it is more than 14 days prior to your stay. We added it while we could get it. I compared the price with what these hotels are currently booking at and the DCL rate is fair per room per night. When our TA first emailed me the price for a night, I thought it was per-room and that we'd have to still get two rooms - no thank you! But for two rooms, this is in the range of what we've paid for one room pre-cruise in both London and Vancouver through DCL (and stayed at really nice hotels).

Just thought I'd pass along the information in case someone else was waiting to find out.

Do the prices include transfers?

 

[DL1957]

For anyohne looking for information about the hotels DCL is using in Barcelona, here's what we've learned.

Renaissance Barcelona (was AC Diplomatic (Marriott)) DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $408/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

Hilton Diagonal Mar DCL IS USING THIS ONE. PARTY OF 4 IS $416/NIGHT (2 ROOMS)

We went ahead and added two nights pre-cruise and one night post-cruise at the Renaissance Barcelona through DCL. You can cancel for a full refund as long as it is more than 14 days prior to your stay. We added it while we could get it. I compared the price with what these hotels are currently booking at and the DCL rate is fair per room per night. When our TA first emailed me the price for a night, I thought it was per-room and that we'd have to still get two rooms - no thank you! But for two rooms, this is in the range of what we've paid for one room pre-cruise in both London and Vancouver through DCL (and stayed at really nice hotels).

Just thought I'd pass along the information in case someone else was waiting to find out.

Thanks Cindy we are a party of 8 arriving at different times and want to begin to coordinate this! Sue

 

[nzdisneymom]

Do the prices include transfers?

I don't think so. We have transfers scheduled as part of our flight which is associated with our second cruise rather than this one, and the hotel price that we got through DVC/DCL is the same as what our TA gave us.

 

[nzdisneymom]

(Cross posting this with our Venice cruise, sorry for the repeat for the B2Bers).

Thought someone might be interested.

Fodor's Insider's Guide to the South of France.

Also, have any of you see Madagascar 3? We saw it this week and loved it - what was especially fun was seeing Monte Carlo and Rome It was a fun movie.

 

[Lynn G]

For anyone else doing the math also I thought I would contribute. For a June 13th departure (Arrive morning of 14th, ~33 hours prior to sail away), you can book your outbound leg on July 17th of this year. While some might have to wait until the full round trip length of time is available, if you are doing AWARD travel using miles, it is actually beneficial to book the legs separately, as you can snag them earlier, and it makes it easier to make changes to one rather than both down the road if something goes awry, you can cancel a leg without cancelling the whole itinerary and rebooking, etc. There's no added cost to booking one way at a time.

We're doing AA Explorer awards, which American uses based on mileage flown to determine amount of frequent flier miles needed rather than just flat rates based on class. Depending on distance traveled and availability of the other types of awards it might actually require less mileage for some. 160k miles is getting us both round trip in Business/First.

Another BIG tip for award travel, both British Airways and Iberia pass on the fuel tax to the customer even for award tickets. So for this itinerary it was pricing at 120k ff miles + $1200 even for economy. Whereas if you stay just on American planes/flight numbers, our total round trip taxes were $80 + the miles.

Of course if you fly some other airline than American, you'll have to do your own research.

Matt - are you joining us on this cruise? At first I thought I was on the wrong thread when I saw your post. Welcome aboard!!! It is really fun to have our running friends cruising with us!

 

[nzdisneymom]

I got excited for a minute when I checked DCL this afternoon and saw there were some additional cabins in our Category available- 6120 and 6122 - I was thinking I'd switch our 6114 for 6120, but when I checked the deck plan, it's also a connecting cabin which is what we have in 6114. I will keep checking and hope 6116 or 6118 open up.

 

[joius24]

Hi Everyone, Fresh off our Fantasy and Magic B2B cruises, just got off the ship today! .... I may be reconsidering this cruise and booking a cheaper one for 2013.
DS's HS graduation wish for 2014 is 2 week a tour of Japan (including the disney parks) and I may need to work on money saving in other areas to do it in the way I want to. We are considering Alaska instead of the Med. .....not fully ready to jump ship just yet. Still thinkin it all through.

The Fantasy was awesome! and Nova Scotia was beautiful....but not warm LOL

 

[DL1957]

I got excited for a minute when I checked DCL this afternoon and saw there were some additional cabins in our Category available- 6120 and 6122 - I was thinking I'd switch our 6114 for 6120, but when I checked the deck plan, it's also a connecting cabin which is what we have in 6114. I will keep checking and hope 6116 or 6118 open up.

Cindy You may try calling DCL and asking for a supervisor. We did that on the Baltic and got the stateroom we wanted. Not all of them are opened this early as they hold some back. It is worth a try. Good luck. Sue

 

[mindelmouse]

Cindy You may try calling DCL and asking for a supervisor. We did that on the Baltic and got the stateroom we wanted. Not all of them are opened this early as they hold some back. It is worth a try. Good luck. Sue

I don't know...the ship is pretty sold out right now. We booked a dummy date on our NYC 2 day to exchange for our 2nd room on this cruise so that we could get the credit and discount and they couldn't do it. The TA spoke with her contact. They said this cruise is so booked that as soon as they would release my cat 11 and try to rebook it, it would be gone. Odds were I wouldn't get it back....Now I've heard many on these boards say they were going to ultimately jump ship and go a cheaper route, at guess at this juncture since no money needs to be paid, people are keeping the ressies...I'm sure lots will open up when payment is due.

 

[DL1957]

I don't know...the ship is pretty sold out right now. We booked a dummy date on our NYC 2 day to exchange for our 2nd room on this cruise so that we could get the credit and discount and they couldn't do it. The TA spoke with her contact. They said this cruise is so booked that as soon as they would release my cat 11 and try to rebook it, it would be gone. Odds were I wouldn't get it back....Now I've heard many on these boards say they were going to ultimately jump ship and go a cheaper route, at guess at this juncture since no money needs to be paid, people are keeping the ressies...I'm sure lots will open up when payment is due.

Mindy
You are so right on this. DSIS called about the hotels in Barcelona and when talking with the CM found out all of deck 5 where we are is currently sold out. I agree with you about folks jumping ship at the paid in full date too bad they don't do sooner if it is not their intention to go. Sue

 

[nzdisneymom]

Cindy You may try calling DCL and asking for a supervisor. We did that on the Baltic and got the stateroom we wanted. Not all of them are opened this early as they hold some back. It is worth a try. Good luck. Sue

Great idea. We have this booking through DVC and when we made it, 6116 was not available, and while we haven't seen it pop up, maybe they could wait list us for the cabin. I will give DVC a call to have them check with DCL for us. When we booked, I confirmed with DVC that changing cabin assignments would not cause me to incur another $95 fee

 

[mindelmouse]

So maybe I'm kidding myself thinking that the price of the airfare will be in line to what we paid last time and maybe I'm not. I just priced the same airline for the exact same flights we took last time - timing wise in May (cause that's the latest you can do it right now) and the price was $3643 for all 4 of us. I paid $4228 last time. Do you think the month's differenc will make that much of a difference in the price?

 

[nzdisneymom]

So maybe I'm kidding myself thinking that the price of the airfare will be in line to what we paid last time and maybe I'm not. I just priced the same airline for the exact same flights we took last time - timing wise in May (cause that's the latest you can do it right now) and the price was $3643 for all 4 of us. I paid $4228 last time. Do you think the month's differenc will make that much of a difference in the price?

The price per ticket went up about $50 just from late April 2013 to early May. And when I looked back in January for a 2012 June flight, it was $1400. A May 2013 is running $1121 right now for the schedule we want.

 

[OurDogCisco]

I don't know...the ship is pretty sold out right now. We booked a dummy date on our NYC 2 day to exchange for our 2nd room on this cruise so that we could get the credit and discount and they couldn't do it. The TA spoke with her contact. They said this cruise is so booked that as soon as they would release my cat 11 and try to rebook it, it would be gone. Odds were I wouldn't get it back....Now I've heard many on these boards say they were going to ultimately jump ship and go a cheaper route, at guess at this juncture since no money needs to be paid, people are keeping the ressies...I'm sure lots will open up when payment is due.

Well, I jumped ship already and did cancel over a month ago and applied my deposit to my November Fantasy Cruise. So, this morning just for kicks I went and checked out my cruise price today. We originally booked 9A for $10,471 on 1/28/12. Today that same room is $12,493 so, $2022 difference. I think for a lot of people to plan a cruise so far in advance is hard but if you don't book the day the cruise opens you can't lock in the best price. So, I think many times people book not knowing what might happen in 18 months and whether or not they can go. So, many things can make or break a trip. Hopefully, people will want to cancel to get their deposit money back. It was nice to apply it to our other cruise now, I feel like we have less to pay on that cruise.

 

[joius24]

Well, I jumped ship already and did cancel over a month ago and applied my deposit to my November Fantasy Cruise. So, this morning just for kicks I went and checked out my cruise price today. We originally booked 9A for $10,471 on 1/28/12. Today that same room is $12,493 so, $2022 difference. I think for a lot of people to plan a cruise so far in advance is hard but if you don't book the day the cruise opens you can't lock in the best price. So, I think many times people book not knowing what might happen in 18 months and whether or not they can go. So, many things can make or break a trip. Hopefully, people will want to cancel to get their deposit money back. It was nice to apply it to our other cruise now, I feel like we have less to pay on that cruise.

I am on my way to doing the same Cisco. Just holding on a little while longer to see what kind of "bonus" I get from work in July and what my financial picture looks like at that point. I do like keeping the choice open and most likely will keep my Med. ressie for at least a few months, because like you said....you never know, maybe i will get some pixie dust and be able to do both! (Alaska and the Med!)

 

[disneyfan888]

Well, I jumped ship already and did cancel over a month ago and applied my deposit to my November Fantasy Cruise. So, this morning just for kicks I went and checked out my cruise price today. We originally booked 9A for $10,471 on 1/28/12. Today that same room is $12,493 so, $2022 difference. I think for a lot of people to plan a cruise so far in advance is hard but if you don't book the day the cruise opens you can't lock in the best price. So, I think many times people book not knowing what might happen in 18 months and whether or not they can go. So, many things can make or break a trip. Hopefully, people will want to cancel to get their deposit money back. It was nice to apply it to our other cruise now, I feel like we have less to pay on that cruise.

Just out of curiosity, what is your Nov. fantasy sailing? I'm sailing on the fantasy on Nov.3 with the PR stop. Can't wait! At least we get some cruise fun and will hopefully ease the waiting on the Med one a year away, lol.

 

[OurDogCisco]

Just out of curiosity, what is your Nov. fantasy sailing? I'm sailing on the fantasy on Nov.3 with the PR stop. Can't wait! At least we get some cruise fun and will hopefully ease the waiting on the Med one a year away, lol.

Thanksgiving week. We are tied to the school calendar for vacations. We are still going on the Med cruise just doing to different lines. We are doing RCCL for Greek/Turkey part and then, NCL for the Italian ports. It worked out better for us to fly in and out of Rome. And, we really wanted to spend a few days in Rome since a port stop here is never enough. I'm hoping to book a dummy cruise for the future to go somewhere else like Alaska or something.

 

[disneyfan888]

Thanksgiving week. We are tied to the school calendar for vacations. We are still going on the Med cruise just doing to different lines. We are doing RCCL for Greek/Turkey part and then, NCL for the Italian ports. It worked out better for us to fly in and out of Rome. And, we really wanted to spend a few days in Rome since a port stop here is never enough. I'm hoping to book a dummy cruise for the future to go somewhere else like Alaska or something.

I completely understand with the scheduling. My husband and I also have strict schedules, but this one worked out for us. I agree about Rome, so much to see. We were there in March and are counting the days to be back

We would love to do the Alaska one at some point, we shall see.

 

[nzdisneymom]

(cross posted on the June 27th meet thread)

Another article I thought you all might find of interest:

Top 10 Sights in Rome - from LonelyPlanet.com

Because we've been to Rome before, we already saw the highlights we had on our "must see" list, so we're beginning to think about what else we might want to see and/or do on a day in Rome. We saw the Vatican, the Colloseum, the Pantheon, tossed our coins in the Trevi Fountain...

 

[thndrmatt]

Matt - are you joining us on this cruise? At first I thought I was on the wrong thread when I saw your post. Welcome aboard!!! It is really fun to have our running friends cruising with us!

Let's just say "signs point to yes"... We're cruising Alaska on Sept 3rd, and it's very likely we'll OBB the Med cruise at that point, assuming the price doesn't become too prohibitive between now and then. So far so good...