June 7, 2014 - 7 night Magic on the Med!

[gatorfreud]

Hi all!

We are now official too! Booked airfare on miles... arriving 6/2 for a few days in Munich (trying to move it back to 5/31 if something opens), flying to Barcelona on Friday. Flying to Rome after the cruise for a few days, 2 nights in Lucca/Pisa, then on to Venice to round out the week.

I am super excited now!! Looking for Barcelona hotel for Friday - there are 2 I am looking at in Barri Gotic but they don't seem open for reservations yet.

I started the thread but I do not know how to start a FB page so someone can do that if they want! We also need a cute logo - the sailings before and after us have really cute ones! But I don't know how to make anything like that.

I can start a roll call on the first page if you guys want to do that. I'll also copy some other links and stuff I found on some of the other meets' threads.

Super excited!!

Oh I will also copy an email from a friend in the next post - she just came back from our exact same sailing from this year!

Kim

 

[gatorfreud]

From my friend:

Hi Kim,

Here are the details…it was WONDERFUL, but not relaxing at all, but we got to see A LOT of bucket list stuff! All of the tours and transfers that I booked turned out very well and really no drama. The kids travelled amazingly well…no whining and no complaining…and real troopers since the days were really long…not a lot of down time. This was their first time going to Europe and no jet lag in either direction even though it is a 9 hour time difference. I think our flight times made a big difference.

The tour operators asked me to do some Trip Advisor reviews for them, so I’ll attach the links to those.

We went with another family, so our total party is 7 (3 kids)…pricing might be different than for party of 4…you gotta do the math. EUR rate is about 1.3.

I will organize this in sections…

GETTING THERE: There are no direct flights to BCN, so we did the layover in CDG (Paris) and went to Paris afterwards. We stayed out near DLP for half of what it would be in Paris. We left at 9:30 pm from SFO, but didn’t get into BCN til 10:25 pm…so, when we got to the hotel, it was sleeping time and were able to get up the next day to do stuff.


BARCELONA: Since we got in so late, we really only had one full day for sightseeing. I used Barcelona Day Tours (highly recommend) for all of our transfers (BCN to hotel, hotel to ship, ship to BCN) and half day tour of the City. We saved a fortune using them for the transfers instead of DCL ($30 per person, per segment). We paid 79 EUR for the party of 7 for each segment.


Barcelona Day Tours: http://www.barcelonadaytours.com/


Trip Advisor: http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...-Barcelona_Day_Tours-Barcelona_Catalonia.html


2 reviews – one on Transfer Services (princessminniemouse) and one on Barcelona City Tour – half day (Randall S)



Hotel in Barcelona: We stayed at Le Meridien Barcelona on points (not the cheapest if we had to pay)…EXCELLENT location right on Las Ramblas…only two blocks from La Boqueria.



Trip Advisor (princessminniemouse): http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Re...e_Meridien_Barcelona-Barcelona_Catalonia.html



I think if you want to save $$$, Barcelona would be a good city for the Hop on Hop off bus…we were too lazy and did private tour with hotel pick up. Seems like a good taxi town. Just make sure you pre-purchase tix (we did) for La Sagrada Familia or you will end up in a super long line.



We arrived at hotel around midnight…and Las Ramblas was PACKED full of people!!!


PORTS OF CALL:


There are 4 days in a row of port calls that are really long…I think generally we started at 7 am and didn’t get back to ship til around 6. We had the late 8:30 seating…so we showered before dinner…and then dinner doesn’t end til 10 pm. I think I only got 5 to 6 hours of sleep a night because Mom has to get everyone to bed and then get up first to get ready and then get the kids ready in the morning.



VILLEFRANCHE (tender port) – DCL Value Package Nice and Monaco



This was my least favorite and I think you should choose something else. This one actually caused me stress because of the bathroom situation. Women restroom lines ALWAYS long…tour guide didn’t wait til all of the women were out before moving on. The highlight of this trip was standing outside of the Grand Casino in Monte Carlo. Randall did car watching and we saw all sorts of Ferrari’s (400 – 500k) driven by old white men with really tall young blonde chicks with them...figures!



FLORENCE and ROME – Rome Connection Private Tours http://www.romeconnection.com/



This is what I am super proud of and still haven’t stop patting myself on the back for…this was the BEST decision I made (next to hotel in DLP). I read over the blogs from past Disney cruisers to NOT book the tours on the ship and go private because the buses are so big and can’t go that far into Rome or Florence that they park really far away and you have to walk A LOT in the heat with kids. I did a spreadsheet to calc the Rome Connection (with private Vatican guide for 200 EUR, attraction tix, gratuity) vs the DCL Best of Rome tour…and for the party of 7, we SAVED a whopping $950 going private. On both Florence and Rome private tours with 7 of us ONLY, we ran into the Adventures by Disney (ABD) tours…they still had quite a few folks on their tours and paid a fortune for it. Our tours were really VIP/white glove treatment…almost blue disabled placard parking everywhere. We are all still shaking our head over it.



The difference on the Rome Connection is that these guys are licensed tour guides (art history background) and are able to go into the attractions with you to explain everything…very big deal for me because I want the history of what we are seeing. Some of the others that I checked out on those blogs are really just drivers and take from place to place only. Still, they were really great with the kids and made it interesting for them too.



Florence and Pisa Shore Excursion from La Spezia (tender port) (princessminniemouse): http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti..._Private_Tours_Day_Tour-Florence_Tuscany.html



On this particular shore excursion, it was about the same price as the DCL ones…but we accomplished SO MUCH more. If you do the DCL ones, you would only have enough time to see the Statue of David OR climb the Leaning Tower of Pisa. We were able to do BOTH!!! I think the DCL shore excursion there is one you could see external Tower and fake David.



Rome Connection pre-purchased the Tower tix for us in advance and we SKIPPED long lines at Accademia to see David.



I think on the next trip I would do the Cinque Terre with Rome Connection…but for my kids and me (all about the bucket list), it was a big deal to see the really famous landmarks. I really needed to see the real David and Leaning Tower.



Rome shore excursion from Civitavecchia (princessminniemouse): http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attracti...Rome_Connection_Private_Tours-Rome_Lazio.html



We went to the Vatican Museum and saw the Sistine Chapel, Trevi Fountain, Spanish Steps, Pantheon, Piazza Navona, St. Peter in Chains church and Colosseum…I can’t recommend this tour enough!!! See the trip advisor review.



NAPLES: DCL Timeless Pompeii and Flavor of Sorrento



I really enjoyed this shore excursion. I think they were very well organized and allowed plenty of time for bathroom breaks. I could have done the private tour with Rome Connection (Randall’s sister plus son and family did it in May) and loved it! BUT, I love mozzarella and salami…and this one we got to go to a farmhouse in Sorrento to see how fresh mozzarella is made. The sample platters very generous with salami, tomatoes (delicious and I don’t even like tomatoes!!!) and mozzarella. They had farm made local wine and limoncello (lemon liquor) there too. I was very happy and a little loopy after this…very enjoyable!!!



Sorrento itself was a bunch of touristy shops…not that impressed.



Pompeii tour was wonderful…plenty of time, guided tour…so much history there.

 

[blessed2x]

Thank you Kim! Your friend's information is very helpful! Where did she stay at DLP? We plan on staying 4 nights post cruise in Paris. We also are staying 2 nights in Barcelona pre cruise.

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[gatorfreud]

I'll ask her!

Kim

 

[blessed2x]

Thanks

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[gatorfreud]

From my friend for DLP...

We actually stayed out at the Marriott Village 3 miles outside of DLP and saved a fortune from staying inside Paris.



This worked out really nicely for us as we had a whirlwind of culture on all of our port calls and we got to spread out at the Village and hang out at DLP.



DLP/Marriott Village is super easy to get to. We took the TGV high speed train directly from CDG…only a 12 min ride! Sure beats driving 8 hours down the I-5 to Disneyland!!!



CDG is HUGE and it does take some effort just to get to the train station:



http://parisbytrain.com/tgv-train-cdg-to-eurodisney/



I think our tix were 52 EUR for the family of 2 adults and 2 kids.



We took the taxi from Marne La Vallee-Chessy to get to the hotel.


HOTEL:
The original plan was to stay in Paris two nights and then stay in DLP for two nights.

BUT I found: http://www.marriott.com/hotels/hotel-deals/pardp-marriotts-village-dlle-de-france/

See under Find Deals and Promotions: Experience the Magic of DLP.

My friend had 2 adults plus kid and stayed in Paris. Paris rooms are really only for 2 people…1 king or 2 twin beds…she had to upgrade to a suite and paid 400 EUR a night for 4 nights. She did not book the DLP deal when I told her to and was waiting for the husband to do it.

She came to visit us one day and had to pay for her one day park hoppers.

We paid 250 EUR/night for 4 nights INCLUDING 4 3-day DLP park hoppers...worth 600 EUR!!! I think we saved around $1,500 USD on this deal.


Yeah…seriously!!! Did not have to sit through any time share presentations, no hassle, no nothing! DH was sure this was a price mistake and didn’t believe it.

The DLP hotels were really expensive…just as much as staying in Paris…I don’t remember it being that bad when we went before.

Our 2 bdrm villa was bigger than our own house! I’m not kidding. It was two levels with 2 bdrm upstairs…one was a master bedroom with two person bathtub, two sinks, toilet and bidet. The other bdrm had a shower and toilet. Downstairs was a full kitchen with espresso machine, washer and dryer (we did all of our laundry before coming home), breakfast bar, dining room table, living room plus another toilet!

It was almost too big after being in a cruise ship cabin!

It is out in the French countryside and an easy 10 min walk to the local village. We went to the supermarket and patisserie in the village to stock up on snacks and soda. Soda is outrageously EXPENSIVE in Europe!!! It was actually very peaceful out there…beautiful landscaping too.

They had a set schedule for the shuttle bus (small fee) to take you to DLP/train station. Lots of complaints on Trip Advisor that the shuttle stopped too early around 6 pm. They must have listened to the feedback…runs til park closing now. They have an onsite market too…not bad and very convenient.

DLP is super easy to get to…take train,…get off and YOU ARE THERE!

We met our friends in Paris and took a day trip into Paris via train. The shuttle doesn’t run before 10 am…so we took the #34 public bus to the train station…took the RER (like BART) to Paris and transferred to Metro (like Muni). I think roundtrip for the 4 of us was around 56 EUR to go to town. Takes more than an hour to get to Eiffel Tower.

In Paris, we got the two day Museum Pass…even though we only did one day…because you get to skip the lines everywhere (still worth it). We started off at Tour Eiffel (separate tix) and then walked everywhere. It is really beautiful and walkable. We went to Musee Rodin (Thinker), Musee de Orsay (Impressionists), Musee du Louvre (Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo) and ended at the Notre Dame.

Going home, we just hired a car from the hotel to take us back to CDG…didn’t want to deal with hauling luggage…it was about 100 EUR.

Except for the cigarette smoke, we had great time at DLP/Studios. At Studios, they have a new ride called Crush’s Coaster. AWESOME! Like Space Mtn on a 4 person turtle shell that rotates simulating riding the EAC!

 

[blessed2x]

Thanks for sharing!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[rgrovr]

We signed up for this cruise while on the Fantasy back in May. This would be our first family European trip but we're wondering if this may be too much for a 5.5 year old boy and soon to be 7mo old (we found out after we booked)?

Curious if anyone has done this or other European cruises with little young ones. We may have to change to something slower pace I'm afraid.

 

[blessed2x]

Hello Everyone,

We booked our airfare this week $1076.00 pp (adult) from Chicago. The kids were $1016.00 pp. I thought these were great prices from what I have read. Now we need to figure out where to stay in Barcelona and Paris. Kim, the Marriott Village that your friend stayed at looks nice. Waiting on travel agent to give me some more ideas. How is everyone else's planning going?

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[ndwest04]

Hello Everyone!
My DW and 2 kids (ages 12 and 9 by departure time) are thrilled to be joining you on this European cruise. Well, our kids don't know about this cruise quite yet but I can't keep a secret forever so they will probably be told in the coming weeks/months...definitely before the Christmas season. It's a long time to wait, but then we get plenty of planning time on the plus side which we'll need.

I originally booked us on the 5/31/14 cruise but that date was problematic for our kids school schedule, so here we are on this cruise.

First, I just booked our flights already and I'm noticing others are starting to do the same. It's really hard to predict the best time to book flights. I'm more risk-averse, so if you are the same I recommend you book your flights asap. Summer prices to Europe typically only go up over time, not down. The bargain deals are typically found in off-season, and we ain't going off-season!

That said, best of luck to everyone trying to find any current airfare bargains, because there really aren't any! My advice is to frequently check Kayak and Expedia, and consider multi-destination flights as that can surprisingly save $$. For example, we are doing a pre-cruise trip to Paris and DLP. We are flying into Paris from D.C. on 6/4/14, staying 2 nts at either DLP resort or something very close by, and then will stay 1 nt in Barcelona day before embarkation. I haven't decided yet whether to train or fly from Paris to Barcelona the day before the cruise. Either way, the costs seem reasonable and the train schedules aren't set until a few weeks out before the travel dates. I'll finalize those plans probably in early 2014.

We are flying on IcelandAir, and got our tickets at roughly $1K a piece to fly from Dulles to Paris getting there, and then Barcelona to Dulles on the return. Both flights have layovers in Iceland, which actually excites us since that is a place we'd otherwise probably never see. The layover heading to Europe is short, but the layover returning home is long (about 14 hours). We're going to use that time to sightsee Iceland for a half-day or so. The major American-based airlines clearly have a cartel on European airfares; they were all in the $1,300 - $1,500 price range from what I can find. Craziness!

If others are planning a Paris pre- or post-cruise trip, let me know. I'm curious how you plan to do so, where you plan to stay, etc.

The 5/31/14 cruisers already have a Facebook page, so if anyone has the interest to create one or knows if one already exists...let us know. I think it's a great idea.

I backpacked through Europe after college about 20 years ago, and I did hit some of the cruise ports we'll visit but not all of them. Trust me folks. This is the cruise itinerary of a lifetime for a European vacation. We are in for a treat.

Good luck cruise planning everyone!

 

[blessed2x]

Welcome!!! No Facebook page started. But, I know if you would like to start one we wouldn't mind. We have airfare booked as well and at a great price. Definitely a lot of planning for this trip, but is is going to be well worth it!!! So excited!

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[AddysMama]

Hey everyone, I worked with the Med group going the week before us to snag this cool graphic for our cruise!

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3686/9...8d164662_o.jpg

 

[AddysMama]

Let me try that again...

http://farm4.staticflickr.com/3686/9...8d164662_o.jpg


Ahh, I'll have to work on getting these jpg's posted correctly later tonight!

 

[eyenerd]

Hello!

DH and I booked this trip as soon as the dates opened up. We did an Eastern Med. cruise for our honeymoon on Princess. It was fantastic.

We have a DD (5) and DS (3). We hope that they will do OK in Europe. We did the fantasy in January, and had a great time, but love seeing stuff.

I am rather concerned about airfare. I have been checking and it has been around $1300 non stop from Philly. We hope to prevent large layovers if possible because of the kids. Would love to hear about any deals or suggestions on airfare. Thanks

 

[gatorfreud]

Wow this thread is getting some action!

yeah!!

I can't remember who posted what, but thanks for getting us a logo! I'll get it on the 1st page when you post it.

We would love a FB page, I just don't know how to start it!

We are going on miles so no comments on airfare. I already booked our Munich-Barcelona and Barcelona- Rome.... paid those, got decent prices I think. I was afraid to wait.

Still waiting to book Barcelona hotels. I have two I like in the Bari Gotic but they aren't open for booking yet. We are only getting to Barcelona Friday.

For the PP.... not sure I would go with a 7 month old. No, I don't think I would. But congratulations!! I would take a nice relaxing cruise to a beach on the caribbean!

ndwest - boys or girls? my boys will be 9 and 11.

oh and does anyone want to do fish extender? We had a blast with our last one. I totally want to do it, but i need to make something really tiny since we are only carrying on luggage!

Yeah! I can't believe we leave for Europe in just over 9 months. It seemed so far away when we booked it in February....

Kim

 

[peloha86]

Hi there!
We are trying hard to go on this cruise! Meeting with out TA tomorrow, hoping to fit in a pre or post trip. Will keep you posted

 

[gatorfreud]

OK we booked Barcelona hotel! We arrive Friday, and we are staying one night here.

www.montecarlobcn.com

Looks nice, great trip advisor reviews, and right in the center of the action, which I am good with since we only have one night. Right near the aerobus. You have to tell them if you have kids, but didn't seem to be a problem. We got two doubles. More per night than we are spending on lodging for the rest of the trip, but for just one night, I wanted convenience.

I think I am about done with major planning. We have all hotels/vrbos/flights (still looking for a Venice-home flight on miles for DH) - all travel within Europe booked, except our trains which I have to wait until 4 months out.

Now I guess that the major stuff is done, I need to start seriously researching the detail stuff! I ordered a Gaudi pop-up book from the library that I need to go pick up.

And I am already thinking about my next Europe trip! So many places I want to go... DH's family has decided we are all taking a Europe cruise in summer 2015 (they don't know we are going this summer I don't think). I am going to try and push for a norway/sweden cruise, but not sure they will go for it. I really would rather do Christmas 2015 and do the markets in Germany. Dreaming.... need to figure out how to PAY for this travel! hahahahah!

Kim

 

[blessed2x]

Hello, wow we are getting some more action. Yay! As far as flights, we booked through Aer Lingus. We have a hour or so layover in Dublin, both ways. The layover is actually refreshing to be able to move around. We did get a great deal, but we booked 3 weeks ago. My husband's secretary frequently visits her relatives in Ireland and will only fly Aer Lingus, otherwise we probably wouldn't have booked non American. Barcelona is booked for 2 nights. All we have left is flight from Barcelona to Paris & Paris stay, which we can't book yet. I' m game for fish extender. Didn't do it our last cruise, did my own thing (wanted to prevent DD then 7 and DS then 5) from going crazy in the store... It actual worked! This time they are 2 years older, so little kiddie stuff will not be so intriguing (I hope).

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[millie]

I booked our round trip non stop airfare from Philly about a month ago and it was $1341 per person. I hated to do it - I was hoping for $1200 or less but I just wanted to get it over with.

Now I am researching all of the ports and trying to decide what to do in each. So many choices, so little time, so much money!!! I can't wait!

 

[ndwest04]

My DD will be 9 and my DS will be 12 by the time of the cruise.

Wow this thread is getting some action!

yeah!!

I can't remember who posted what, but thanks for getting us a logo! I'll get it on the 1st page when you post it.

We would love a FB page, I just don't know how to start it!

We are going on miles so no comments on airfare. I already booked our Munich-Barcelona and Barcelona- Rome.... paid those, got decent prices I think. I was afraid to wait.

Still waiting to book Barcelona hotels. I have two I like in the Bari Gotic but they aren't open for booking yet. We are only getting to Barcelona Friday.

For the PP.... not sure I would go with a 7 month old. No, I don't think I would. But congratulations!! I would take a nice relaxing cruise to a beach on the caribbean!

ndwest - boys or girls? my boys will be 9 and 11.

oh and does anyone want to do fish extender? We had a blast with our last one. I totally want to do it, but i need to make something really tiny since we are only carrying on luggage!

Yeah! I can't believe we leave for Europe in just over 9 months. It seemed so far away when we booked it in February....

Kim