August 23, 2014 - Mediterranean MAGIC 7 Day

[Peppy Hare]

Ok. Looking for feedback on this plan. Especially from those joining us from Europe. Is this itinerary doable/worthwhile?

Fly from US to Paris. Stay overnight and fly next to Venice for 2-3 days. Fly back to Barcelona the night before our cruise. Sound good?

If you still have room on the fish extender, please add us. I have not previously done the FE but thought it might be fun this time around coming from across the pond.

Thanks!

Are you travelling with kids? If yes I would say don't do it. You may be to tired when you need to begin your cruise. Also air travel in Europe can be tricky. On top of that they are talking about unifying air control (now each country in Europe controls their own airspace which isn’t realty efficient and productive) and this has lead and will lead to social unrest (= strikes) although there is a general consensus in the air travel branch not to “harass” passengers during their hard earned holidays in July and August. So without kids it will certainly be doable (but you will spend a lot of your time in airports/airplanes = checking in, going trough security, waiting for the plain, flying, waiting for baggage, going to your hotel), with kids (< 16 years) I would not recommend doing it.
Worthwhile? I think you would really like to visit Venice. It is a beautiful, magical and romantic destination but is spending a few days in Venice really worth that much to you that you are willing to fly that often? Why not visit Paris, or fly asap to Barcelona and spend a few days there before cruising?
To me it sounds like a very ambitious plan but I don’t now your travel experience or personal situation. Happy to give more info or more detailed advice if you can share some more info.
Last summer we flew from Brussels to Rome with two kids (6 and 4) and although the flight itself only took 2 hours, we still lost the first day entirely. We arrived at the airport in Brussels around 11.30 and arrived in our hotel in Rome around 17.00. We were well prepared and everything went well (no delays or other hiccups) but still were exhausted upon arrival.

Hope this information helps!

 

[Crackleandpop]

After much debating we have finally booked again on the Magic. We, being, myself and my now eight year old DS.

We went in August this year, same itinerary, same boat but as we are in the UK it was the only financially viable way of cruising with Disney again. And refitted Magic will be kind of like sailing on a new ship.

This year we flew in two days before the cruise and out the day after, giving us three whole days to explore Barcelona. Surprisingly we have a list of things we missed but really want to do so this works out well. Last time we booked all of our tours through Disney - Half Day Rome, Pisa and Pompeii. This time I will do Florence with Disney but probably do it myself around the some of other ports and enjoy an extra at sea day while in Rome. A couple of our dinner companions did all DIY trips but said the train to Rome and getting from there to the sights was a nightmare.

Really surprised by the number of people signing up for the fish extender. Last year we were a group of five which actually worked out fab for a first time cruiser/fish extender participant. We did a gift per person last time and it filled up the case a little too much. On the day of disembarking we did find a Carrefour in Barcelona and that had tonnes of Disney related stuff for kids, which would have been useful before hand.

We have booked an inside cabin.

Wow, such a long post, sorry. Any questions about the port adventures we took just ask.

 

[Crackleandpop]

Ok. Looking for feedback on this plan. Especially from those joining us from Europe. Is this itinerary doable/worthwhile?

Fly from US to Paris. Stay overnight and fly next to Venice for 2-3 days. Fly back to Barcelona the night before our cruise. Sound good?


Thanks!

There is loads to do in Barcelona with kids so you could spend a few days there. If they like theme parks/water parks there is Port Adventura about an hour outside Barcelona. You could easily spend two or three days there. It has a Sesame Street themed area. Barcelona itself has beautiful parks, cathedrals, a zoo and an aquarium (DS and I did a deal- culture for the promise of the Aquarium, but he actually loved Park Guell.) There was a family in my fish extender group who flew to Paris and did four days at Eurodisney first, before flying to Barcelona on the Friday.

It depends on your interests and how relaxing you want the days before the cruise to be and how many ports/cities you want to see on the cruise.

 

[DrDisney823]

Does anyone have information about a good place to stay in Barcelona prior to the cruise?

 

[Crackleandpop]

What do you mean by good?

There are loads of cheap places about ten minutes walk from the port. We stayed at the hotel auto Hogar last time, which was cheap, clean and a short walk from both the port and la Ramblas. Equally there are loads of hotels on La Ramblas. The airport bus drops you at the top of La Ramblas. If you want four or five star there are several around the port area.

We walked from the hotel to the port bus in about ten minutes then took the port bus to the ship. It wasn't walkable.

 

[bnlbebes]

Ok. Looking for feedback on this plan. Especially from those joining us from Europe. Is this itinerary doable/worthwhile?

Fly from US to Paris. Stay overnight and fly next to Venice for 2-3 days. Fly back to Barcelona the night before our cruise. Sound good?

If you still have room on the fish extender, please add us. I have not previously done the FE but thought it might be fun this time around coming from across the pond.

Thanks!

OK-

Thanks for the feedback on this one. Our son is a good traveler, so having him in tow for a European tour doesn't worry me in the least. We will probably not have this opportunity again until after he leaves the nest, so we are going to try to squeeze in a couple of extras on this trip.

I am a compulsive vacation planner, so I have found flights and made our reservations around them already (almost all anyway). We are flying from NY into London (Gatwick), arriving Wed 8/20, 9AM. We have time to take a quick (double-decker bus?) tour of the city that day. I've done this before on a layover to a teaching assignment in Botswana about 20 years ago, so hopefully it'll work out this time as well. Wednesday night we fly out of London (Gatwick, again) to Venice. We fly from Venice Friday night to prepare for the cruise on Saturday, 8/23. A whirlwind trip, I know, but at least we get to see some of the sites. I don't have a flight booked yet to get back from Barcelona to London for our return to NY Sat 8/30, evening time. This is partially due to not liking the prices I see right now and hoping they'll come down to match some of the other prices I've paid. ***Also, can any previous cruisers give me an idea of a practical time for departure from Barcelona airport? When are we allowed to disembark the ship?

Thanks for you feedback so far and for any other comments you can give.

 

[nixieh]

Hi everyone,
Please could we join the FE group too. We were on the Fantasy this August and my kids loved delivering and receiving the gifts.

We are 2 adults (my DH and I) and 3 kids (all DDs) who will be aged 12, 15, and 17. We are from London and are planning on a couple of days in Barcelona before the cruise. Our BA flight back to Gatwick departs at 11.15 on the 30th and the advice I have received from other Med cruisers is that we should be fine with that but we will def prebook a taxi. Busy looking at Barcelona hotels and apartments now and researching tour options for the ports.

 

[Goofylou]

We stayed at Hilton diagonal mar, a bit out of the city but we have a nice view of the cruise ships coming and going in the days before the cruise we were about a €20 taxi to the port. It had a nice shopping center beside it with a supermarket where we bought drinks and snacks.
Our flight with monarch left about 11.00 for Gatwick and the transfer from the ship was fine, we were off the boat at 8am after our breakfast.

 

[krisces]

Good Morning!!!

We will be joining you on this cruise as well! Together with my husband and DD (12), this will be our sixth Disney cruise and we are very excited!

Not sure of our arrival plans yet, but we will be coming in early to see Barcelona. We were just in Europe this summer, Holland, Germany and Austria, so we are eager to see as much of Barcelona as possible!

We are currently booked in stateroom 6542..... I hope that we all get to know eachother well before we set sail!

Kristen

 

[PrincessKerry]

Hi,

We are also on this cruise. Very excited.in my party is myself, DH, DS (who will be 5 at the time of the cruise) and DD (who will be almost 3 ) - we are celebrating her birthday whilst on board as it is on the 4th September (so just a few days after we get back). Also travelling with us in a separate cabin are my husbands parents. We are all extremely excited and would love to be in the Fish Extender Group please! Have already purchased my fish extender! Can't wait to start making our gifts.

I created a Facebook page for this group a while ago and there are 3 families already. It won't let me add the link but if you search 'Disney Magic - Med Cruise - 23rd August' you should be able to add yourself!

Hope you can all join that too! So glad I found you on here!

 

[lindylou2_2002]

Hi we will also be on this cruise, it will be our 1st as gold members.
We Love sailing on the Magic.

The way FEs have been done on our previous cruises, is that everyone goes on the list and then it gets splits out so nobody gets more than 15 or 20 cabins to do.
A cut off date of say 2 months before the cruise, Some people do all the cabins (their choice) some people do room gifts or Kids gifts, there is no right or wrong way of doing this. There is no minimum or maximum of what you can do.

BTW way It is Me, DH DD 11 and DD9 traveling
We have done the Med it is fantastic

 

[PrincessKerry]

Cabin Number - 6040
DIS Name - PrincessKerry

Names/Ages (at time of cruise) - Me (Kerry - 32), DH (Luke - 33), DS (Max - 5) and DD (Isabella - 2, turning 3 just after our return)

Location Lake District, UK

Celebrating? Isabella's 3rd Birthday on 4th Septebmer

Favorite Characters Me = Minnie Mouse, DH = Wreck It Ralph, DS = Stitch and Daisy Duck and DD = Snow White and all of the Princesses

Confirmed? Yes

 

[pringles507]

Welcome. Glad to see more people join the thread. My son prides himself on being a "tween." Maybe he and Austin might end up hanging out in Edge, the tween club.

We just got back from our cruise and I never saw my tween boy. haha He was in the kids club the entire time, had to drag him out for diner and excursions.

 

[belle2011]

Hello,
We will join you on this cruise, and we would like to be in the FE group, the girls loves it during our last cruise.
it will be our 4th cruise.
and it is me (Elodie) DH (Franck) DD7 (Gillian) and DD3 (Lexi) and we are from France so we're going to drive to Spain a couple of day before the cruise.
We are going to celebrate Gillian's 7th birthday on august 16th.
We use to have annual passes for Disneyland Paris so if you have any question it or about travelling in France, I can try to answer it.

 

[Crackleandpop]

I might be wrong but by my reckoning we have reached 15. That was pretty fast.

 

[Z'sDisneyMom]

Just checking in to say hello.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Trying to catch up on the thread. Glad to see we have a good, nice sized group sailing.

Now to find airfare...

 

[Cupcakesmmm]

I might be wrong but by my reckoning we have reached 15. That was pretty fast.

Just Confirming that you are wanting to be part of the FE group? I didn't see that you had officially said that you wanted to be part of the FE's?
Thanks

 

[Cupcakesmmm]

If Crackleandpop wish to be part of the FE group we have reached our max.
I have the following signed up:
1. Cupcakesmmm
2. Z'sDisneyMom
3. MadamG2U
4. Barnesa123
5. Pringles507
6. Gill2014
7. Goofylou
8. PeppyHare
9. Rackon
10.Skit72
11.bnlbebes
12.Nixieh
13.PrinessKeyy
14.belle2011
15.Crackleandpop

For future I can keep a list of others interested in case someone cancels or decides not to be in group, or if there ends up being enough for a second group. Let me know if you are not on this list and are interested in being in the FE group.

Thanks!

 

[Cupcakesmmm]

Just checking in to say hello.

Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Trying to catch up on the thread. Glad to see we have a good, nice sized group sailing.

Now to find airfare...

Yes! Do tell if you find some great deal.

 

[bnlbebes]

I booked our airfare a few weeks ago. Flying from JFK to London and then jumping around from there. Found the best fares using Norwegian airlines.

Any recommendations for places to stay in Venice?