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

[nzdisneymom]

They posted a 3rd Rome excursion


Popes, Etruscans and Piazza Del Duomo - The Amazing OrvietoCivitavecchia, ItalySightseeing Adventures
Discover "the green heart of Italy," Umbria, with a journey to Orvieto, one of the major centers of Etruscan civilization. Enjoy a walking tour through the narrow streets and the majestic cathedra,with one of the most beautiful facades in the world. Learn more about this Port Adventure.

This is the one we'll want to do on the 2nd half of our B2B... we've heard it's really good, and Adventures by Disney does a day there.

I'm so excited that we're starting to get a peek at excursions!

 

[nzdisneymom]

Port adventures are up for some of our ports!

 

[MJGirl]

On our 2007 Med cruise, I did the Eternal Rome cruise. It was awesome. I chose this one, as the train ride was shorter, so it meant my teenager got an extra half hour sleep .... I'm looking into the Popes, Etruscans and Piazza Del Duomo tour, as it sounds nice and not a full day. Lots of time to decide!!! ps ... doing the countdown to post 2000 ... 3 more to go!!

 

[burma]

I see Greece has nothing yet, we booked Rome limo for Florence and Rome but what are you all thinking about for Malta? Ephisus and Villafranche ?

 

[MJGirl]

I see Greece has nothing yet, we booked Rome limo for Florence and Rome but what are you all thinking about for Malta? Ephisus and Villafranche ?

Not sure ... but I definitely want to go to se Delos when we are in Mykonos! Want to see the birth place of Artemis and Apollo! Must see the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens! Been wanting to see them for as long as I can remember.

On our 2007 cruise, we did Florence, Nice, Rome and Monaco, so thinking of something diferent this cruise. Has anyone done the Perfume tour in VilleFranche ??

Post 1998 ... 2 more to 2000!

 

[burma]

MJ

Since we are in Florence on a Monday and the museums are closed. What would you say is a good plan for seeing Florence.

Trying to help you reach 2000 ;-)

 

[MJGirl]

Thanks for the help Burma! I did the Florence and Michelangelo tour in 2007, as I really wanted to see the original David. Florence was amazing! The Duomo is beautiful, and the Ponte Vecchio is as well .. This cruise, I'm looking into Cinque Terre! I've heard it is a sight to see! I would still do Florence though .. My daughter and I took a horse and buggy back to the bus meeting place! It was probably the best part

Post 1999 ... one more to go!

 

[justhat]

So excited! We finally booked our airfare this morning! AA seems to be having a great sale right now for any who may still be looking. We purchased tickets this morning for Denver - Barcelona for just over $900 each. We arrive to Barcelona in the evening on June 11. Excited to start looking for places to stay - thanks to all who posted info about lodging in the city. We are going to try to find a conveniently located apartment or apartment type hotel for those nights. On the 27th, we are on the 11:20, American Airlines flight from BCN to Miami (and then on to Denver). Is anyone else taking that flight?

We're on your return flight. Good luck to you all, with my clan on board! We connect on to Phoenix so the 2nd flight should be okay for you. We're also on the 6/8 cruise though, so our outbound flight is 6/5 (my anniversary, should be excellent spending it all on a plane).

 

[DL1957]

Not sure ... but I definitely want to go to se Delos when we are in Mykonos! Want to see the birth place of Artemis and Apollo! Must see the Acropolis and Parthenon in Athens! Been wanting to see them for as long as I can remember.

On our 2007 cruise, we did Florence, Nice, Rome and Monaco, so thinking of something diferent this cruise. Has anyone done the Perfume tour in VilleFranche ??

Post 1998 ... 2 more to 2000!

MJgirl
We did the perfume in 2007 and was not impressed. All they wanted to do is sell you their perfume at inflated prices! Sue

 

[mindelmouse]

MJgirl
We did the perfume in 2007 and was not impressed. All they wanted to do is sell you their perfume at inflated prices! Sue

I totally disagree on that one. We did it in 2010 and yes they did try and sell us their products but we had a good time learning how to create our own perfume. I actually bought their body lotion and it was the best I've ever used. Just ran out a few months ago. The town of Eze is beautiful as well.

 

[nzdisneymom]

MJgirl
We did the perfume in 2007 and was not impressed. All they wanted to do is sell you their perfume at inflated prices! Sue

I totally disagree on that one. We did it in 2010 and yes they did try and sell us their products but we had a good time learning how to create our own perfume. I actually bought their body lotion and it was the best I've ever used. Just ran out a few months ago. The town of Eze is beautiful as well.

It sounds like they took the feedback from the 2007 DCLers and adjusted the excursion to be more suitable for guests!

We want to go to Monaco and we want to go to Eze. Because we have the two different days in port, we were thinking of doing one the first time and the other the next. But I was leary of the perfume factory one, and I don't think DH and the boys would be interested - I mostly want to go to Eze and see it.

So we were thinking of doing this one. Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze as an all day excursion on the first time through, and then just doing our own thing in Villefranche the next time. But I'd rather not do a full day, but instead do a partial day like this one: Highlights of Monaco and Monte Carlo and then doing one in Eze, but they don't have one that just goes to Eze.

 

[mindelmouse]

We had the boys do the perfumery and I believe they enjoyed it. It was more about chemistry than perfume.

 

[nzdisneymom]

We had the boys do the perfumery and I believe they enjoyed it. It was more about chemistry than perfume.

Even more reason to not do it (says the mom of a boy with a D in chemistry right now)

 

[nzdisneymom]

Thanks for the help Burma! I did the Florence and Michelangelo tour in 2007, as I really wanted to see the original David. Florence was amazing! The Duomo is beautiful, and the Ponte Vecchio is as well .. This cruise, I'm looking into Cinque Terre! I've heard it is a sight to see! I would still do Florence though .. My daughter and I took a horse and buggy back to the bus meeting place! It was probably the best part

This is good to hear - we have narrowed Florence to Discovering Florence or Florence and Michaelangelo - I'm leaning towards the latter, but we won't do it on this sailing but the next. For this sailing, we're looking at doing Cinque Terre on our own. I've been researching it on another site but am going to post here at DCL for those who might have done it on their own before to get specific instructions from the port to Cinque Terre and back. I was thinking of doing the train there and the boat back.

So I've gone through the DCL excursions and if we had to pick today, here's what we'd do for this sailing:

Villefranche: Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze (and just do Villefranche area on our own on the following sailing)

La Spezia: Cinque Terre on our own

Civitavecchia: Nothing through DCL struck us for going into Rome, so we're going to look for a private tour and/or hook up with someone here who is booking something already that might want four more people to join and share the cost (anyone??) The thing for us is that we did the Jumping Back into Rome excursion in 2007 and it was fabulous, but we saw all the highlights then. The rest of the excursions go back to the very same places or spend more time in the Vatican than we are interested in. So we are going to look into doing something on our own. (For the following sailing, we will choose either the Pope, Etruscans, and Piazza Del Duomo - amazing Orviero, or Italian Countryside and Olive Oil - leaning more towards the second one because of the cost - however, depending on what we decide to do for this sailing, we might be able to work out a good arrangement with the same private tour provider to do a regional tour on our second time around).

Athens, Ephesus, and Mykonos - tbd

Malta - Island Panoramic

 

[rossjen2]

We're on your return flight. Good luck to you all, with my clan on board! We connect on to Phoenix so the 2nd flight should be okay for you. We're also on the 6/8 cruise though, so our outbound flight is 6/5 (my anniversary, should be excellent spending it all on a plane).

I was thinking something similar but in regards to my family! We took a relatively short flight from Denver - Detroit a few weeks ago and when we got off the plane, I thought I have no idea how we (and the people sitting near us) our going to survive our flights to Barcelona! Hopefully, Jake (he'll turn 4 in April) will be thoroughly exhausted from the trip and sleep the whole way home. I just don't know what the poor people who get stuck near us on the way to BCN are going to do!

Actually, I am really glad to know there are other people on our flight because I was worried that it might be too early. Have you decided how you are going to get to the airport on the 27th? Does anyone have any recommendations? I am undecided between DCL transfers/taxi/etc. Just want to do it the easiest, least stressful way with our flight being relatively early.

I would also love to hear advice from anyone regarding ports and excursions. This will be my husband and son's first time to Europe. Our son will be 4 yo next summer and is an extremely active/busy little guy. I've been reading Rick Steve's Med Ports book and searching online. It sounds like many of you have done this adventure already so I would love any suggestions or feedback you can offer.

So far, this is what I've come up with:

Villefranche: On our own: take train to Monaco, ride the tourist train around Monaco, back to Villefranche, stroll through town, relax on beach.

La Spezia: On our own: Cinque Terra. Sounds pretty easy take the train/boat/hike between the villages.

Rome: Undecided - the Jumping Back to Eternal Rome or take that express train on our own and hire a guide to meet us at the train station to take us around....?

Athens: Undecided - obviously waiting to see what DCL offers but I think we really just want a quick tour of the Acropolis/Parthenon and then short stroll around the old town area

Ephesus: Undecided - waiting to see what DCL offers, but we would like to see Ephesus, stroll through the bazaar, and maybe a beach too?

Mykonos: On own, stroll through town, see windmills, and then day at beach.

Malta: Maybe that Blue Grotto excursion? Then stroll through town and a beach if nearby.

Thanks for any advice or suggestions!!
-jen

 

[DL1957]

I totally disagree on that one. We did it in 2010 and yes they did try and sell us their products but we had a good time learning how to create our own perfume. I actually bought their body lotion and it was the best I've ever used. Just ran out a few months ago. The town of Eze is beautiful as well.

Happy to hear your experience was better in 2010. In 2007 they only spent 10 minutes in the area where they make perfumes and we did not get to create our own even though that was included in the description. It was the maiden voyage so it looks like they improved it. Sue

 

[nzdisneymom]

La Spezia: On our own: Cinque Terra. Sounds pretty easy take the train/boat/hike between the villages.

Rome: Undecided - the Jumping Back to Eternal Rome or take that express train on our own and hire a guide to meet us at the train station to take us around....?

-jen

It sounds like there may be quite a few of us doing Cinque Terre on our own that day... perhaps we can put together a good plan / instructions through all of our research for the various ways to go visit the area and what to be sure to see / do while there (and costs and timetables for making sure we get back on time). The DCL excursion sounds lovely but it is a bit prohibitive in cost for four of us (if it were just two of us, we'd likely just do it with them, but double the cost and we'll pass).

We loved the Jumping Back to Eternal Rome excursion in 2007. The only part that was tricky for us was that there was an extra DCL cast member who joined and made the numbers off, so our family got stuck having to be separated on the train over, and then at the lunch, we didn't get to sit with the rest of the excursion group because the way the other guests sat, there was one seat here, one seat there, and two seats left over - but our kids were too young to put on their own even at the lunch. Blech. But the tour of Rome itself was awesome - our guide was excellent. Be sure to toss a coin into the Trevi Fountain - we did, and look - we're going back to Rome! For us, we wanted to be sure to see the inside of the Colloseum and not spend the whole day at the Vatican - that's why we chose this excursion.

Oh, Peter Pan was also on the train with us from the port to Rome.

 

[Lynn G]

Even more reason to not do it (says the mom of a boy with a D in chemistry right now)

Maybe the tour would foster an interest in chemistry???

 

[MJGirl]

First of alll ... Let's hear it for post 2000 on the DIS boards!!!



On to more important things ... Check out Disney Parks Blog ... Have a teaser on Turkey Excursions. Heres the link !!

 

[DL1957]

First of alll ... Let's hear it for post 2000 on the DIS boards!!!



On to more important things ... Check out Disney Parks Blog ... Have a teaser on Turkey Excursions. Heres the link !!

Congrats! How long did it take you?