May 20th, 2023 - 7-Night Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona (Toulon, Livorno, Civitavecchia, Naples, Palma de Mallorca)

[JAM9842]

Wow! That’s annoying! Which one was it?

The Treasure of the Templar. It was a family activity where the kids could go on a treasure hunt. We are doing the walking tour of Hyeres instead now.

 

[Flossbolna]

Sil

The Treasure of the Templar. It was a family activity where the kids could go on a treasure hunt. We are doing the walking tour of Hyeres instead now.

that one sounded really great! I was thinking if I had kids I would go for that. Hope you will enjoy Hyeres! We are staying out in Toulon, but after the cruise we will spend 5 days in Avignon and touring in Provence anyway.

 

[JAM9842]

Sil

that one sounded really great! I was thinking if I had kids I would go for that. Hope you will enjoy Hyeres! We are staying out in Toulon, but after the cruise we will spend 5 days in Avignon and touring in Provence anyway.

That sounds wonderful!

 

[Flossbolna]

I think tonight is Silver CC members booking day. Good luck to everyone who can book in a few hours!

 

[Tink1987]

It was barely worth waking up super early to book everything (I’m not in the US). Got our port adventures but nothing else which I was prepared for, thanks to you lovely posters on here.

Coupled with the fact I woke up at 5am on the wrong day at first as well so had 2 early morning starts on a weekend, this has not been smooth sailing so far

 

[JAM9842]

It was barely worth waking up super early to book everything (I’m not in the US). Got our port adventures but nothing else which I was prepared for, thanks to you lovely posters on here.

Coupled with the fact I woke up at 5am on the wrong day at first as well so had 2 early morning starts on a weekend, this has not been smooth sailing so far

Oh no! Just keep checking, things open up all the time as plans change. Hopefully you can still get what you want.

 

[Martie Parker]

Hello,

For those doing their own transportation in Florence are you doing Pisa with Florence that day? We are going to both and I need some advice about booking my Duomo entry ticket! My husband and I did this itinerary almost 20 years ago and I can’t remember how long we needed in Pisa (I realize this is subjective but wanted to get to Florence ASAP!)

 

[Tink1987]

For anyone else struggling with Provence and wanted a more ‘wine heavy’ tour than Disney offered - we’ve booked a day tour with Bandol Wine Tours.Top rated on Trip Advisor, a little more on the pricey side but you do get lunch included at a Michelin restaurant. Very much looking forward to it now!

 

[Flossbolna]

For anyone else struggling with Provence and wanted a more ‘wine heavy’ tour than Disney offered - we’ve booked a day tour with Bandol Wine Tours.Top rated on Trip Advisor, a little more on the pricey side but you do get lunch included at a Michelin restaurant. Very much looking forward to it now!

Sounds great! Hope you have fun. And compared to the onboard wine tastings, you will most likely get more and better wine!

 

[valee]

Hi everyone

Our only other slight concern is the flight prices to Barcelona. However, we’ve booked a non refundable sailing so there’s not much more we can do about that.

We were definitely concerned about the cost of the flights. We saw the great cruise rates and wanted to go, but the airfares we found were more than the cost of the cruise. It's relatively cheap to fly to London, and initially thought of taking the train from there to Barcelona, but were not excited about switching trains and stations in Paris at night. We finally found a British Air flight from Heathrow to Barcelona that beat the price of the train.
The hotel we found, Onix Rambla, is just a couple of blocks from Placa de Catalunya, so we'll probably take the Aerobus there from the airport instead of a taxi. The bus stop is right outside El Corte Ingles, the big department store with a basement grocery (If you look at street view for Placa de Catalunya on Google Maps, you can see the Aerobuses at the bus stop.)

 

[valee]

We just booked tickets to the Carmen, Carmen, Carmen flamenco performance at the Palau de la Musica for Friday night before the cruise. It's SO nice to just pay for the tickets - no extra ticket handling charges.
We will also bring the tickets to the box office during the day to get a discount on a guided tour of the Palau. WE toured it the last time we were in Barcelona, and https://visits.palaumusica.cat/en
Now the research for a day trip to Montserrat begins - does anyone have any tips?

 

[Flossbolna]

We just booked tickets to the Carmen, Carmen, Carmen flamenco performance at the Palau de la Musica for Friday night before the cruise. It's SO nice to just pay for the tickets - no extra ticket handling charges.
We will also bring the tickets to the box office during the day to get a discount on a guided tour of the Palau. WE toured it the last time we were in Barcelona, and https://visits.palaumusica.cat/en
Now the research for a day trip to Montserrat begins - does anyone have any tips?

There is a recent trip report about that day trip:

Post in thread 'Our 12-Night Mediterranean half cruise / half quarantine adventure | COMPLETED July 2022'
https://www.disboards.com/threads/o...ure-completed-july-2022.3909209/post-64622295

I found that very helpful and I am sure the OP will answer any question you might have!

 

[valee]

Thanks for passing on those links. The trip report is very useful.
I checked the schedule for the boys choir for the Friday we are planning on going. I thankfully remembered that European calendars are not always aligned like ours - Sunday to Saturday, so checked by date - it looks like they will be singing on the 19th.
And I'll remember to check the extended weather forecast for Montserrat as well as Barcelona before we leave the States. I see tonight that the mountain is 15 degrees cooler than Barcelona.

 

[Flossbolna]

Thanks for passing on those links. The trip report is very useful.
I checked the schedule for the boys choir for the Friday we are planning on going. I thankfully remembered that European calendars are not always aligned like ours - Sunday to Saturday, so checked by date - it looks like they will be singing on the 19th.
And I'll remember to check the extended weather forecast for Montserrat as well as Barcelona before we leave the States. I see tonight that the mountain is 15 degrees cooler than Barcelona.

I think it’s safe to say that in 99.99% of cases the calendar in Continental Europe goes from Monday to Sunday.

I am glad you found the info helpful!

 

[Flossbolna]

Tomorrow it is only 10 weeks until we board the Disney Dream! I am starting to get very excited!!

 

[JAM9842]

Tomorrow it is only 10 weeks until we board the Disney Dream! I am starting to get very excited!!

Eeeeekkkkk!!!!!!

 

[Martie Parker]

We are so excited! Is anyone else disappointed that we will be in Florence on Monday when the Uffizi and Accademia will be closed? We are making other plans and would like to hear what others have planned for this day!

 

[Flossbolna]

We are so excited! Is anyone else disappointed that we will be in Florence on Monday when the Uffizi and Accademia will be closed? We are making other plans and would like to hear what others have planned for this day!

We are going to skip Florence. We live in Germany, so Florence isn’t too far for a visit. We are either going to Pisa by train or will stay in Livorno. Haven’t decided yet.

But I agree that it’s a bit of stupid planning on DCL’s part to be there on a Monday.

But Florence is really wonderful as a city. I was there for a conference once and just loved walking through town.

 

[MinnieMouse3]

We are so excited! Is anyone else disappointed that we will be in Florence on Monday when the Uffizi and Accademia will be closed? We are making other plans and would like to hear what others have planned for this day!

We were also really disappointed to be going on a Monday! We are still planning on doing Florence + Pisa with a tour through ItalyTours. I hope to be back at some point to see the museums but in case we are not we decided to go!

 

[RuaLizbeth]

Hi everyone. We are booked on this cruise as well. Exciting to read through everyone's plans.

Curious if anyone knows which "side" the ship is likely to dock on in Toulon? It seems like there are two options:

"Cruise ships to Toulon dock at 2 ports: Toulon (Port Marchand in downtown) and Port La Seyne-sur-Mer (to the southwest across the bay)."


We aren't planning a port adventure for this day, more of a get off and wander, so it would be helpful to have an idea which side we will be on.