Chrissy-Mickey
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2016
Our usual travel party is just my sister and me. After raving about our three previous cruises (2 DCL and 1 Carnival), we've convinced our parents that maybe cruising isn't horrible.
This is the story of our 2018 Summer adventure to the Mediterranean.
The Cruise:
7-Night Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona
Sail Date June 2, 2018
Ship Disney Magic
Ports Barcelona, Spain; Naples (Pompeii), Italy; Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; Livorno (Florence, Pisa), Italy; Villefranche (Monte Carlo / Nice), France; Barcelona, Spain
Who we are:
I'm Chrissy, and I love to travel with my sister, Sam. We're in our 30s, grew up in Europe, and for the last 10 years have been living in the U.S. Since we were little, our parents would take us on vacations to Spain, the Spanish Islands, and Portugal. We still love to travel!
Our parents, DM and DF, live in northern Europe. They're in their 60s and retired. They enjoy traveling, but don't really plan trips for themselves any more.
How this trip came about:
I'm the planner of the two, and ever since we've been adults, I've been planning trips. We usually go on road trips to explore the U.S. We've seen 42 states so far! We love road trips, but for the longest time I've wanted to try a cruise.
Here came the challenge: DM and DF once went on a short cruise 40 years ago and hated it. So, growing up, cruising was seen as a negative. However, way back when DCL's first ship came out, I had done the research and knew that this was nothing like what DM and DD had experienced. Sam never looked into it, and therefore never changed her perspective.
Fast forward to early 2017; stressed time, both personally and work-wise, and we both needed a break. DCL advertising dropped into Sam's mailbox, since we were WDW annual pass holders, and she finally looked into it. This, combined with a great FLR rate, and we went on our first cruise: 4-Night Bahamas Cruise on the Dream.
We absolutely loved it! That summer, we went on a Carnival cruise to Belize, Honduras, and Cozumel. In December, we went on a 7-Night Caribbean on the Wonder.
What would our next destination be? We looked into Baja Mexico (have that cruise booked for 2019) and the Mediterranean. We've been to Spain, but never to Italy nor the South of France, and Italy has always been on our wish list. However, going to Europe for a cruise without DM and DF who are already in Europe made no sense to us, so be pretty much begged them to join us (paying for their cruise may have helped persuade them).
Right, paying for their cruise... how were we even going to pay for ours?!?
Just a month ago we were on a Disney Cruise! We looked at alternative cruise lines, but found that most are not much cheaper than DCL (the price difference increases later in the summer). The few cruise lines that were more affordable would be fine for us, but not for DM and DD - we're trying to impress them here, a casino w/ smoking is a big no, and we're unsure about the entertainment. So DCL it is!
We started working some overtime while we were looking at the option of sharing an inside stateroom with the four or us. However, I was hoping for a IGT. My patience paid off, in March the IGT became available, exactly within our budget!
Two IGT staterooms booked! Next up, planning...
This is the story of our 2018 Summer adventure to the Mediterranean.
The Cruise:
7-Night Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona
Sail Date June 2, 2018
Ship Disney Magic
Ports Barcelona, Spain; Naples (Pompeii), Italy; Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy; Livorno (Florence, Pisa), Italy; Villefranche (Monte Carlo / Nice), France; Barcelona, Spain
Who we are:
I'm Chrissy, and I love to travel with my sister, Sam. We're in our 30s, grew up in Europe, and for the last 10 years have been living in the U.S. Since we were little, our parents would take us on vacations to Spain, the Spanish Islands, and Portugal. We still love to travel!
Our parents, DM and DF, live in northern Europe. They're in their 60s and retired. They enjoy traveling, but don't really plan trips for themselves any more.
How this trip came about:
I'm the planner of the two, and ever since we've been adults, I've been planning trips. We usually go on road trips to explore the U.S. We've seen 42 states so far! We love road trips, but for the longest time I've wanted to try a cruise.
Here came the challenge: DM and DF once went on a short cruise 40 years ago and hated it. So, growing up, cruising was seen as a negative. However, way back when DCL's first ship came out, I had done the research and knew that this was nothing like what DM and DD had experienced. Sam never looked into it, and therefore never changed her perspective.
Fast forward to early 2017; stressed time, both personally and work-wise, and we both needed a break. DCL advertising dropped into Sam's mailbox, since we were WDW annual pass holders, and she finally looked into it. This, combined with a great FLR rate, and we went on our first cruise: 4-Night Bahamas Cruise on the Dream.
We absolutely loved it! That summer, we went on a Carnival cruise to Belize, Honduras, and Cozumel. In December, we went on a 7-Night Caribbean on the Wonder.
What would our next destination be? We looked into Baja Mexico (have that cruise booked for 2019) and the Mediterranean. We've been to Spain, but never to Italy nor the South of France, and Italy has always been on our wish list. However, going to Europe for a cruise without DM and DF who are already in Europe made no sense to us, so be pretty much begged them to join us (paying for their cruise may have helped persuade them).
Right, paying for their cruise... how were we even going to pay for ours?!?
Just a month ago we were on a Disney Cruise! We looked at alternative cruise lines, but found that most are not much cheaper than DCL (the price difference increases later in the summer). The few cruise lines that were more affordable would be fine for us, but not for DM and DD - we're trying to impress them here, a casino w/ smoking is a big no, and we're unsure about the entertainment. So DCL it is!
We started working some overtime while we were looking at the option of sharing an inside stateroom with the four or us. However, I was hoping for a IGT. My patience paid off, in March the IGT became available, exactly within our budget!
Two IGT staterooms booked! Next up, planning...
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