5-Day Mediterranean plus 3 days in Switzerland (7/17/18 trip report)

fredandkell

I'd rather be cruising
Joined
Apr 4, 2013
Background:

We have taken 2 DCL Bahamian cruises before, both on the Dream. We were originally scheduled on the 7-day Eastern in fall 2017…the same week that Hurricane Irma hit. DCL switched our itinerary to a Western, but since we’d done that before, we really weren’t jazzed about it. We called and they were very accommodating about letting us switch to a different cruise, so after looking at our school calendar and DCL’s offerings, we decided to try a Mediterranean cruise. We have an 8-yo son and an 11-yo daughter. I was hesitant to bring the 8-yo to Europe just yet because of the time change but we decided to give it a whirl. It turned out to be a very good experience!

We had 2 connecting verandah staterooms on the 7-night Eastern. It was about the same price (slightly cheaper) for 2 connecting interior staterooms on the 5-night Med. DCL applied part of the difference toward prepaid tips. They told us we would not be refunded the rest of the money, but they actually did refund us, which was a nice surprise. We used Dreams Unlimited and they really did a lot of the legwork for us getting the cruises changed around – definitely recommend them.

Before we committed to Europe, I had to see if we could afford it. We live in Georgia, so we were going to drive to Port Canaveral for the Eastern cruise. Flying 4 people to Europe during peak July season would have cost us between $6-$8k, which was out of the question financially. Luckily my husband and I had been saving our SkyMiles for a long time, thinking the two of us would go first-class to Europe, so we had just enough for 4 coach tickets at the lowest 60K points level. We had to fly in a day early to Barcelona to get that rate and we had to fly out 3 days after the cruise ended from Zurich (which turned out to be a fantastic side trip). We bought 39 euro per person flights from Barcelona to Geneva on easyJet. I travel a few times a year for work and my husband owns a business where he uses a credit card quite a bit, so we have a decent amount of hotel points lying around. We did some mad searching for free hotel rooms and ended up getting 3 of the 4 land nights for free, so overall, the cruise didn’t end up being hideously more expensive than the Eastern would have been – I calculate the difference to be about $2,400 more to do Europe than the Eastern (a lot of that was eating out on the non-ship days) and our Europe trip was 11 days, whereas the Eastern trip would have been 8 days.

Days 0-2: Barcelona

We flew nonstop from Atlanta to Barcelona on Delta. My 8-yo slept about 3 hours but none of the rest of us did. (I hate long-haul coach flights but can’t afford first class, ahh, the humanity! Just kidding—total first world problem.) It took about an hour to go through Barcelona customs. We got a taxi easily and it was 30 euros to our hotel, which was on the northeast side of Barcelona near the Sagrada Familia and the Glories shopping area. We had two free rooms at the Four Points by Sheraton Diagonal – great hotel, highly recommend. One room was actually ready when we got there at 10am, so we put our luggage inside and tried to get the kids to nap, but they were all wired up so we took the subway to Placa Catalunya and walked down the Ramblas. I had downloaded offline maps to Google Maps and it was helpful in getting us oriented to which way we should be walking. We found the Ramblas to be crowded and touristy and it was a bit of an overload for the kids. We went to La Boqueria market and bought some fruit juice and jamon ham, both of which were mediocre. The market was so crowded we felt claustrophobic, so we veered off onto the Barri Gotic side and tried to do the Rick Steves walk, but we had trouble orienting ourselves and we weren’t fans of the narrow alleys and high walls, which make it hard to know where you are. We were going to see Casa Mila but abandoned that plan due to kid (and parent) tiredness. The kids were getting very grumpy by this time, so we took the subway back to our hotel using the T10 card, which has 10 rides for 10 euros. Glad I studied up on this before we went, as otherwise I would not have known what that option meant on the subway kiosk as it was not very clear. Back at the hotel, the 2nd room was not yet ready so we all fit on the king bed together and took a nap. We ventured to the Glories shopping center across the street and had a good tapas dinner and bought wine at the Carrefour supermarket—great prices on European wine, much cheaper than in the US.

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The next morning we had reservations for Sagrada Familia. We booked the Passion Façade tower tour. The church was wonderful; really different from any cathedral I’ve ever seen. The kids loved it, although my 8-yo got a tiny bit scared climbing down the spiral staircase, but he made it. The tower was neat but I think I enjoyed the sanctuary more, so if you don’t score a tower ticket, know that you will still have a great time with the basic ticket.

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We went back to the hotel, got our luggage, and took a taxi to the port. Checkin was a breeze—felt much easier than Port Canaveral. Walked onboard, had lunch in Cabanas, and went to our rooms. Did some laundry – had to hustle to find an available washer, as embarkation day laundry was apparently a hot thing to do! We had rooms 1051/1053 on Deck 1 and overall really liked them. (I did stateroom reports on them.) The spa staff were telling me that the Magic is a very noisy ship in general so I think Deck 1 is about as quiet as you’re going to get on this ship just due to its age and the layout (like really, who thought it was a good idea to put the basketball court over the spa!?). Saw the Tangled show that night – very cute, but avoid sitting in the first 3-5 rows because they use the fog machine a lot and we were all coughing and waving it from our faces.

Day 3: Cannes

We booked the Monaco, Monte Carlo, and Eze excursion via DCL. It left at 8:45 and returned around 6:30. The in-room instructions said that only adults needed passports to leave the boat, but when we checked in, they required us to bring the children’s passports too, so a FYI about DCL excursions in the Med. The description said we would do Monaco, then Monte Carlo, then Eze, but we did it in reverse order. We boarded a bus and drove first to Eze. The bus did not have bathrooms or wifi, and it did have air-conditioning, but not to American standards – apparently France limits how much energy the bus can use, so they didn’t have it turned on at all when idling or parked, so the bus would get very hot and take forever to cool off. It was really more like your car’s “fan” turned on without true A/C but it was something at least.

Anyway, we arrived at Eze. The tour states, “This tour includes approximately 1.3 miles of walking at a steady pace, part of which will be uphill on cobblestone, uneven and/or gravel surfaces.” I’m here to tell you that we walked MUCH more than that, and it was basically ALL uphill. So just be aware. We are a fit family and we were all feeling it. Eze felt very rushed and I couldn’t orient myself well to it since it’s very narrow streets with walls, and there were lots of people and it was HOT. I had bought handheld battery-operated fans for the kids and this was a lifesaver. We paid the extra to climb to the very top of Eze and that was worth the money for the view and to orient yourself, but we literally only had like 40 minutes in Eze including walking time. (The tour description says a 60-minute walking tour plus free time. Nope. And there wasn’t traffic getting there.) The highlight of Eze was our lunch at the Café Pinocchio. I was worried it was going to be a total tourist trap but the food was very good. The excursion includes lunch, which was a salad, entrée, desert, and 2 bottles of wine per table. I will note at this point that I am vegetarian and my son is gluten free/dairy free. This was sent in to DCL in advance on their form. We had a note on our door saying that, “We were put on Bus 11, because it was the special needs food bus” and that they had told the restaurant what we needed. Um, nope. Our tour guide had no idea that she was leading the special food needs bus and there were several of us who had dietary requirements so on the fly she had to work with the kitchen to make it happen. I thought they would ask for each course what you wanted since it was advertised as a prix fixe menu (which generally means you have 2-3 selections per course and you pick one) but prix fixe literally meant a) salad with tuna on top for appetizer, chicken and potatoes for main, and a chocolate souffle for desert. So, moral of this story, if this is your tour, make sure you tell them way upfront about your needs – don’t expect your waiter to ask you what you want. They provided a bunless hamburger, fries, and a bowl of fruit for my son and a pesto pasta for me.
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We boarded the bus and headed to Monaco. We did about a ½ mile walking tour that took us past the cathedral and to the outside of the palace. Again, tour description says: “Ride an escalator to an elevator that goes up the cliffside, where you’ll embark on an informative guided walking tour of the exteriors of such famous sites as the Oceanographic Museum, the Monaco Cathedral and the Prince's Palace, which has served as the home to the royal family since the 13th century. Enjoy 60 minutes of free time to explore on your own immediately afterwards.” We only had about 45 minutes in Monaco period, including the walking tour. We had planned on doing the exotic cars museum tour with our “60 minutes of free time” but we couldn’t do that, so we tried to go into the Monaco Cathedral but they wouldn’t let us in with shorts, so we ended up just hanging out in a pretty public park by the aquarium for a bit before going back to the bus.
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Next, we drove to Monte Carlo. This was the biggest bust of the day. You had to hike up a very hilly and hot and long hill past tons of crowds to get to the casino. Again, description said, “Follow your guide for a 15-minute walk to Casino Square, which is surrounded by immaculate gardens, before enjoying 45 minutes of free time.” We had in no way, shape, or form 45 minutes for free time. The tour references people going in the casino but there was no way you could have had time to do that – I mean, you might have gotten in 4-5 hands of Blackjack which certainly wouldn’t warrant the 17 euro entrance fee. Finally we walked back to the bus and drove back to Cannes, where we hit a lot of traffic and got back to the ship 45 minutes past the anticipated 5:45 arrival time. I seriously sweated all day long (and I’m from Georgia and used to heat/humidity) and didn’t feel like I really got to see anything that day – it was all hurry up and walk and get back on the bus. The kids were not fans of this tour at all and quite frankly neither were me and my husband. It was not worth the expensive price. We were too late and exhausted to make it to the MDR so we had a surprisingly good Cabanas buffet for dinner. We skipped the show and spent an hour or so in the pool and on the small waterslide, then went to bed.

Day 4: Livorno

This day made up for all the previous day’s shortcomings. We slept in a bit and the kids went to the kids’ club for a couple hours in the morning. Did some more laundry and used our one-day passes for the Rainforest Room. We were the only ones in there so it was nice and private. We had lunch on the ship, then took the shuttle to Livorno. We had 1:40 reservations for the Tuscany Bus to take us to Pisa. This cost about 65 euro for 4 people and was a significant savings over the DCL excursion. We had a few hiccups with locating the bus, and it did not have wifi on it as advertised, but the A/C on this bus was marginally cooler than the previous day. We took the 2 euro shuttle from the bus lot to the Miracle Square in Pisa (trying to minimize time walking in hot sun, ergo whining from kids).

I expected the Leaning Tower to be a total tourist trap, but I was pleasantly surprised. The husband and I had already done Florence on a prior trip and I knew the kids wouldn’t care about the museums, but they have wanted to do the Tower since seeing it on Little Einsteins. I had bought tickets online in advance for the Baptistry (5 euro per person) and this also gets you a “fast pass” into the Cathedral. This was a great decision as it prevented waiting in line to get the free time stamp pass into the church (who knows how long a) the line would have taken, and b) what time slot we would have gotten since there were so many people there). We did the obligatory “hold up the tower” photos, enjoyed walking around the nice, cool cathedral, and then climbed to the top of the Baptistry for a neat view. The kids had originally wanted to climb the Leaning Tower but I said no due to some reviews I had read about vertigo and younger kids not doing well with it, and since we were tired from Cannes the day before, no one felt like climbing all those steps anyway, so climbing the Baptistry was a good compromise and much cheaper anyway. Be careful in Pisa, a lady’s backpack was stolen sitting on the ground next to her while waiting for the bus – definitely wear your pack in the front and be alert here. I didn’t feel unsafe (no different than any big city) but it gets the “most likely to get pickpocketed” award from me of the whole trip.
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That night we had dinner in Rapunzel’s and it was sooooo fun!! They put on a great show and everyone is so happy. We did a big group dance around the room and they did the floating lanterns and everything – really, really neat dining experience and a highlight of our trip. We had Rapunzel’s the next night too, but they didn’t do the dinner show a 2nd time which was a shame. I went back to the Rainforest room after dinner and it was very uncrowded at that time too. We went to bed as we knew we had a big day in Rome the next day.

Day 5: Civitavecchia

This day we did the Imperial and Renaissance Rome tour through DCL. Our meeting time was 7:15 and the return time was 6:15. I thought this tour would be the one that wore us out, but it was actually way better than the Cannes tour. For starters, the bus had much better air conditioning. We stopped at a nice rest area outside the city – definitely go to the bathroom here because you don’t have another opportunity until lunch. We went to the Colosseum first and spent about 30 minutes there, which was plenty of time. The kids were disappointed we wouldn’t see the inside, but after seeing the line, they understood why. Bus then drove us to the Trevi Fountain, where we spent about another 30 minutes. We walked to the Pantheon (about 15 minutes inside it, and most crowded place we encountered on whole trip, way worse than when I was there on an April visit) and then walked to Piazza Navona. We had 1.5 hours break for lunch—ate at a very tasty restaurant called Cantina e Cucina. We then walked to a bridge where we had a good photo op of St. Peter’s, then rode the bus to St. Peter’s. Despite the square being mobbed, it only took us about 20 minutes to get through security, and we had over an hour of time inside the church. We got back to the ship a bit early, even. We never felt rushed on this tour, and although our guide wasn’t the greatest (he acted like it was a personal affront to hold the DCL sign high enough so we could see it), it was well worth the money just for the organized transportation to and from all the sites. The kids really liked this tour and it wasn’t as hot or hilly as Cannes/Eze. Rome, although hot, has plenty of shade whereas there was almost no shade on our Cannes excursion.

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That evening, despite being tired, we went back to Rapunzel’s and even revived a bit to make the 8:45 showing of Junnk, which both my kids (and me!) really liked. We did not make it to the Pirate Party (in fact, we’ve NEVER made it to one – I wish they weren’t so late!). I did, however, make it to the OBB desk and booked Bermuda 2019 with my 10% discount.

Day 6: Day at Sea

The next day was our day at sea. The kids went back to the kids’ club for an hour or so and the husband and I just sat on a deck chair. After lunch, they all watched Incredibles 2 in the theater while I took a nap. About this time, the waves got really wavy and the ship was really moving around. Up until that point, this was the smoothest cruise I have ever taken, but that day at sea was very pitchy. My daughter didn’t feel well so I got her some (free) Dramamine from the clinic. She revived a bit at dinner but we just laid around the cabin that night.
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Day 7: Debarkation, Geneva and Bern

The kids had been doing pretty good up until this point with sleeping and the 6-hour time change. We hung around the ship until 8:30 and got a taxi. Getting off the ship was so easy – no customs, no declarations…we were literally at the airport by 9:05! Getting a taxi was super easy and it’s a 39 euro fixed cost, so much cheaper than the DCL bus. We had booked easyJet at 1:10 pm. Well, our flight ended up being delayed over 2 hours, and the food was very mediocre in that particular terminal, and no A/C in the airport, so the kids were hot, cranky, and delirious. Once we finally landed in Geneva, we took a train to Guyeres and transferred to Bern, about 2 hours overall. That part of Switzerland wasn’t really all that scenic as compared to the Alpine region. I had pre-purchased the 3-day Swiss Pass, which was a good decision – no buying a la carte tickets while tired and brain-dead, and we made several tight connections because we didn’t have to spend time at the ticket machines. Swiss trains are great – always on time, clean, have bathrooms, etc.

By the time we go to Bern, it was almost 7 pm. Used Google Maps offline to walk to our hotel, but since it doesn’t do walking directions while offline, only driving directions, it took us a much longer route (due to one-way streets, etc.) but we did make it. Stayed at the Best Western Hotelbern (again, 2 rooms free on points). Priority was getting dinner at this point so we went to one of the few restaurants open on a Sunday evening and got a good meal, but the 8-yo was totally melting down at this point so we had to abandon all planned sightseeing of the clock and bear park. I really felt that I did not see Bern at all and would love to give in a 2nd chance some day, but with kids, you have to be flexible and know when to say when.

Day 8: Murren and the Berner Oberland

“If heaven isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald.” – Rick Steves

I now see why he makes that quote! We took the train(s) from Bern to Murren high in the Swiss Alps. Getting there took some work, but it was so worth it. It was about 2 hours and involved 3 trains and a cable car, but it was incredibly scenic. We stayed at the Hotel Alpenblick which was just perfect (and the only hotel we paid for on the trip). We had a picnic lunch with groceries bought at the Coop and then took a funicular up the mountain to the children’s playground. Even my 11-yo loved it and we stayed for almost 2 hours. We then took one of the best hikes ever back down to Murren (the RS “North Face” hike). Every single bend was just this amazing scenic experience of cows, waterfalls, rushing streams, green everything. The Google Translate app came in very handy here as there were several signs in German with no English translation (things like "Detour" that were important!) We had dinner at a good Chinese restaurant in town and the kids went to bed. Husband and I enjoyed sitting on our balcony watching the sun set over the “big 3” peaks of the Monch, Eiger, and Jungfrau. It was a perfect day and the highlight of our entire trip.
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Day 9: Golden Pass to Zurich

The next morning we slept in a bit, had a yummy breakfast at our hotel, and walked around the town. We took all the transportation back to Interlaken and then took the Golden Pass route from Interlaken to Luzern, which is one of the scenic railway routes in Switzerland. I highly recommend this route, even though it’s about an hour longer to get to Zurich. We passed gorgeous lake towns that pictures just don’t do justice to. At Luzern, we switched trains to get to Zurich, and this leg of the trip was industrial and/or in tunnels. By this time, the kids were getting tired and cranky again, so we abandoned (more!) plans of taking a riverboat ride in Zurich and went straight to our hotel, the Hilton Zurich Airport (also free on points). We just couldn’t muster up the energy to leave the hotel so we had dinner there, which was surprisingly good.

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Day 10: Home and afterwards…

Had a 10-hour flight home from Zurich to Atlanta, which was uneventful. Two days home now, and we are all still recovering a bit from jet lag (it’s much worse to go backward than forward, in my humble opinion). Overall it was a great trip and the kids did better than we expected them to. They had a great trip (and so did we) and are already talking about “the next time we go to Europe.” (Sorry, kids, that’ll be a few years so we can re-accrue the SkyMiles! Ha!)

My husband really liked the Magic, much more so than the Dream. He really liked the intimate feel of the classic ship design. I liked it too and thought the pools were way better, but I also really like the Dream and think both ships are awesome.

So, to summarize…the highlights of our trip were the Bernese Alps region, Pisa, Sagrada Familia, and the Rapunzel’s Royal Table dining experience. The only things I would change would be to a) not fly easyJet but instead fly Swiss Air (even though it was 4x as expensive) – if their planes are as on-time as their trains, it would have made Bern much better, and b) do a different excursion in Cannes, or maybe just go to the beach there.
 
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Love your Switzerland pictures. It is a beautiful country. I haven't been there for years but would love to go back. Thanks for sharing.
 
Fun to read others' experience on the same cruise! Thanks for taking the time to post :)

I was sad to miss Rapunzel's but no way could we wait for 8:30 dining so no MDE for us this trip...guess it's an excuse to go on another Magic cruise!

Your photos are wonderful, btw.
 
Fun to read others' experience on the same cruise! Thanks for taking the time to post :)

I was sad to miss Rapunzel's but no way could we wait for 8:30 dining so no MDE for us this trip...guess it's an excuse to go on another Magic cruise!

Your photos are wonderful, btw.
Thanks! Now you have to write a trip report so I can read your perspective, lol! :)
 


Thanks! Now you have to write a trip report so I can read your perspective, lol! :)

LOL...my trip went something like this: had a migraine, spent lots of time in bed eating toast and drinking ginger ale. Cautiously left the ship in Livirno with a private tour of Cinque Terre (was...okay) and had a private driver in Rome-we saw the Pantheon, threw a coin in Trevi fountain and returned to the ship...to Rome and back under 4 hours. Spent 2 days post cruise in Barcelona and flew home (I hear you about readjusting to time, I'm finally sleeping until 6 am!).

Not sure anyone would want to read my trip report :sad2:

Fortunately I view cruising and travel to Europe as I used to view visiting WDW...we can always return so I don't get too upset if things don't go perfectly!
 
LOL...my trip went something like this: had a migraine, spent lots of time in bed eating toast and drinking ginger ale. Cautiously left the ship in Livirno with a private tour of Cinque Terre (was...okay) and had a private driver in Rome-we saw the Pantheon, threw a coin in Trevi fountain and returned to the ship...to Rome and back under 4 hours. Spent 2 days post cruise in Barcelona and flew home (I hear you about readjusting to time, I'm finally sleeping until 6 am!).

Not sure anyone would want to read my trip report :sad2:

Fortunately I view cruising and travel to Europe as I used to view visiting WDW...we can always return so I don't get too upset if things don't go perfectly!
You poor thing! I get migraines too and I sooooo empathize with you. In fact, we were in Switzerland and the vision in my left eye started to go blurry, which is sometimes what happens to me when I get a migraine, and I was like, oh no, oh no, popping the Advil and praying it wouldn't turn into a migraine. Thank the sweet baby Jesus it didn't!!!!
 


Thank you for taking the time and effort to post a very streamlined summary. FYI I read through it as we are booked on the 7n Med out of Barcelona in 2019. My reactions:
  • We will likely be staying in a similar area (probably AC Marriott Diagonal unless we can apply our free night certificate at the Renaissance, which is currently up in the air with the Marriott/SPG merger). I like staying in a shopping-type area so I don't have to "hunt for food" LOL!
  • No Cannes on our itinerary, which is the reverse direction as yours
  • Thanks for all the comparisons of the port adventures vs your actual experience, which is concerning. Right now we are looking at the PA of Monaco/Monte Carlo/Train tour (as we loved our similar train tour in Key West). However, your post is giving me pause. If I didn't want to see part of the Grand Prix course so bad (I blame you, Iron Man 2 & Cars 2), I'm not sure if we'd even get off the ship. So any additional insights are welcomed!
  • I've done open & closed bus tours in Europe, but I don't think I've ever encountered no/lacking A/C. This is also concerning.
  • One of the big pulls for me is actually the Tangled dinner (We have 2) and stage show. (Shhh don't tell BFF!) It's also why for the first time ever I changed us to Main Dining. I can't imagine full day, hot, walking distance tours & then having to wait until 8:30pm to eat!
  • Thanks for outlining your Rome tour. We're struggling with Rome, as I've been twice, but BFF none. We've already started talking about having to decide between options that include a lot of sites vs an intensive BTS VIP of Vatican/St. Peter's....
  • We would usually do DCL transfer back to the airport, so thanks for the lower cost info and the fact there's no A/C in the Barcelona airport?! Really? If so, we'll stay onboard as long as is appropriate!
  • How did you choose that area of Switzerland? Those photos are gorgeous!
  • Ditto on the migraine issue. BFF has Rx for them and also suffers from vertigo! Thus, dehydration, ship movement, jet lag, &/or intense heat will be our enemies!
Thank again!
 
Thank you for taking the time and effort to post a very streamlined summary. FYI I read through it as we are booked on the 7n Med out of Barcelona in 2019. My reactions:
  • We will likely be staying in a similar area (probably AC Marriott Diagonal unless we can apply our free night certificate at the Renaissance, which is currently up in the air with the Marriott/SPG merger). I like staying in a shopping-type area so I don't have to "hunt for food" LOL!
  • No Cannes on our itinerary, which is the reverse direction as yours
  • Thanks for all the comparisons of the port adventures vs your actual experience, which is concerning. Right now we are looking at the PA of Monaco/Monte Carlo/Train tour (as we loved our similar train tour in Key West). However, your post is giving me pause. If I didn't want to see part of the Grand Prix course so bad (I blame you, Iron Man 2 & Cars 2), I'm not sure if we'd even get off the ship. So any additional insights are welcomed!
  • I've done open & closed bus tours in Europe, but I don't think I've ever encountered no/lacking A/C. This is also concerning.
  • One of the big pulls for me is actually the Tangled dinner (We have 2) and stage show. (Shhh don't tell BFF!) It's also why for the first time ever I changed us to Main Dining. I can't imagine full day, hot, walking distance tours & then having to wait until 8:30pm to eat!
  • Thanks for outlining your Rome tour. We're struggling with Rome, as I've been twice, but BFF none. We've already started talking about having to decide between options that include a lot of sites vs an intensive BTS VIP of Vatican/St. Peter's....
  • We would usually do DCL transfer back to the airport, so thanks for the lower cost info and the fact there's no A/C in the Barcelona airport?! Really? If so, we'll stay onboard as long as is appropriate!
  • How did you choose that area of Switzerland? Those photos are gorgeous!
  • Ditto on the migraine issue. BFF has Rx for them and also suffers from vertigo! Thus, dehydration, ship movement, jet lag, &/or intense heat will be our enemies!
Thank again!
Responding to some of your thoughts....
  • We chose the Four Points because it's a SPG/Marriott property - at the time of booking, it was 7K SPG's/night, which is equal to 21K Marriott points/night. The best Marriott we could find was the AC Hotel Som, which was a Cat 5 when we first booked it, then it changed to a Cat 6 requiring 30K points/night. So if you already have the points earned, you may do better with what we did, and exchanging Marriott points to SPG points (I think the merger is August 18?) and trying to get our same hotel. We really liked it and it has the exact shopping center environment you're after.
  • I've heard that Villefranche is much better than Cannes, hopefully that's your stop!
  • Honestly Monte Carlo and Monaco was pretty "meh." I'd read that several places on this board, but my husband really wanted to see them, and he agreed they were "meh." On the other hand, though, how often can you say you go to Monaco?
  • Re: Rome, you and your BFF could always do different tours. All our our Rome sites were repeats for DH and I - we just re-went for the kids' sake.
  • The airport at Barcelona wasn't miserable due to the lack of A/C, but def. hotter than what you're used to in the US. They mainly had ceiling fans and some were broken. This was terminal C which is the smaller easyJet/RyanAir type terminal so it may have been due to our choice of budget airlines. :)
  • Chose that area of Switzerland based on the Rick Steves Switzerland book - he is a great resource of what to do and how to do it there. Wish we had more time in Switzerland!!
 
Responding to some of your thoughts....
  • We chose the Four Points because it's a SPG/Marriott property - at the time of booking, it was 7K SPG's/night, which is equal to 21K Marriott points/night. The best Marriott we could find was the AC Hotel Som, which was a Cat 5 when we first booked it, then it changed to a Cat 6 requiring 30K points/night. So if you already have the points earned, you may do better with what we did, and exchanging Marriott points to SPG points (I think the merger is August 18?) and trying to get our same hotel. We really liked it and it has the exact shopping center environment you're after.
  • I've heard that Villefranche is much better than Cannes, hopefully that's your stop!
  • Honestly Monte Carlo and Monaco was pretty "meh." I'd read that several places on this board, but my husband really wanted to see them, and he agreed they were "meh." On the other hand, though, how often can you say you go to Monaco?
  • Re: Rome, you and your BFF could always do different tours. All our our Rome sites were repeats for DH and I - we just re-went for the kids' sake.
  • The airport at Barcelona wasn't miserable due to the lack of A/C, but def. hotter than what you're used to in the US. They mainly had ceiling fans and some were broken. This was terminal C which is the smaller easyJet/RyanAir type terminal so it may have been due to our choice of budget airlines. :)
  • Chose that area of Switzerland based on the Rick Steves Switzerland book - he is a great resource of what to do and how to do it there. Wish we had more time in Switzerland!!
Thanks for your note about the Four Points. I've been searching based on the new Marriott points chart. The challenge is they aren't all listed under "Barcelona" and until today I didn't see the Four Points even listed. We will have one of the "free night" certificates from the Marriott CC to use, which applied to up to 35,000 point rooms (new cat 5). Our preference is the Renaissance, but for whatever reason it shows no check-ins allowed on 2 days that month, one of which we need. I fear it's because it's the official DCL hotel. So like everyone else we'll get clarity after the Aug. 18 merger.

I feel the same about Monaco. I hate to miss it after going all that way, but I can also see being exhausted after 3 previous port intensive days.

I personally have no issue doing different tours (more so in Naples/Sorrento), but I know we want to do Rome together - whatever that might eventually look like.

We'll look at the terminals at BCN. We're out on American Airlines, as we really prefer our layover to be back in the states.

BFF eventually wants to do a river cruise (which I'm infanatic we are too young for!), so Switzerland will likely be a ways off for us. But wow - gorgeous!
 
I am reading this now and I HAD to stop and ask where in Georgia!?? We used to live in Kingsland. (now we are in Massachusetts) My husband does not do well in heat, so I'm a bit worried about the Monaco area. I do just fine in it. I mean I survived being pregnant in the summer in south Georgia delivering an 11 pound baby over Labor Day weekend. I think that thinned my blood for like LOL. DH did want to actually GO to the casino....but this is what research is for right? Maybe we would have to do our own tour that day instead of the DCL one.
 
I am reading this now and I HAD to stop and ask where in Georgia!?? We used to live in Kingsland. (now we are in Massachusetts) My husband does not do well in heat, so I'm a bit worried about the Monaco area. I do just fine in it. I mean I survived being pregnant in the summer in south Georgia delivering an 11 pound baby over Labor Day weekend. I think that thinned my blood for like LOL. DH did want to actually GO to the casino....but this is what research is for right? Maybe we would have to do our own tour that day instead of the DCL one.
Atlanta area, so def. not as hardcore as you South Georgians! :)
 

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