Louise97
Mouseketeer
- Joined
- Dec 1, 2019
Well, I've never written a trip report before, but I love reading them so figured I should contribute! I've been updating on my Instagram during the trip, but this lets me do a more in-depth write up.
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Background
We're a party of two adults in our thirties, there's DH (Rhys) and me (Louise). We're from Scotland, and both love Disney. I grew up going to WDW, while DH grew up going to DLP - coincidentally both of our first Disney trips were in 1997! We've been married for almost 6 years and since then we've done three WDW trips, one DLR trip, and four DLP trips (with another couple planned this year).
We did our first DCL cruise (and first cruise ever) in September 2021, which was a UK Staycation on the Magic. We loved it and wanted to do another, especially since the Staycation cruises were a bit unusual. We originally booked this cruise on Silver opening day using our placeholder (with very long wait times on hold...), but cancelled and rebooked for a VGT rate.
We decided to fly into Barcelona the day before the cruise and stay another night after to enjoy the city, giving us a 9 night trip. We booked our flights and hotels through British Airways Holidays, and the cruise through Dreams Unlimited when we rebooked for the VGT.
Itinerary
Travel day - May 19 - flying to Barcelona, staying at H10 Port Vell
Day 1 - May 20 - Barcelona (embarkation)
Day 2 - May 21 - Toulon
Day 3 - May 22 - Livorno
Day 4 - May 23 - Civitavecchia
Day 5 - May 24 - Naples
Day 6 - May 25 - Day at Sea
Day 7 - May 26 - Palma
Day 8 - May 27 - Barcelona (debarkation), staying at H10 Urquinaona Plaza
Day 9 - May 28 - Barcelona / fly home
Pre-Trip Prep
When I looked at our travel options, I couldn't get direct flights for the Friday from Glasgow and we couldn't travel sooner due to work schedules. I held off until Black Friday and booked through British Airways holidays which worked out as the cheapest combination of flights and hotels. It also let me book flights plus hotels for the 19th and 27th as one package which was convenient.
I've always got a spreadsheet for my Disney trips and this was no different. I used two books as my main guides, The Unofficial Guide to Disney Cruise Line, and Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise Ports. Those were great for getting an overall view of the ship and the ports we'd visit. We also found The Dis / DCL Fan content really helpful, we watched Craig and Corey's "two dudes on a cruise" series for our sailing on the Magic and were happy to discover there was a version on the Dream!
We've both been to Florence and Pisa (the main destinations from Livorno), I've been to Palma, and we agreed we'd rather jump on a cheap flight to Rome and spend a weekend there instead of paying for a tour from Civitavecchia. Our key goal was to enjoy the ship, so we decided to book just one Port Adventure, NP39 Pompeii Half Day - Adult Only Departure.
Booking and check-in windows opened at 5am UK time so those were early starts! We were able to get the tour that we wanted, I'd hoped for Remy Dessert but it was only running once so it was sold out by the Silver window. On check-in day, DH grabbed a reservation for the Royal Gathering and I did a speed-run through the check-in process to grab an early Port Arrival Time. We managed to get a 12:15 PAT, boarding group 4.
After lots of research, I'd selected a Cat 7A that didn't seem too obstructed when we made the original booking. Changing to a VGT was a gamble, but it was such a big saving that we decided it was worth it. 11 days out we were assigned 5536, a Cat 4E with a huge extended verandah!
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I'll leave it there for tonight!
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Background
We're a party of two adults in our thirties, there's DH (Rhys) and me (Louise). We're from Scotland, and both love Disney. I grew up going to WDW, while DH grew up going to DLP - coincidentally both of our first Disney trips were in 1997! We've been married for almost 6 years and since then we've done three WDW trips, one DLR trip, and four DLP trips (with another couple planned this year).
We did our first DCL cruise (and first cruise ever) in September 2021, which was a UK Staycation on the Magic. We loved it and wanted to do another, especially since the Staycation cruises were a bit unusual. We originally booked this cruise on Silver opening day using our placeholder (with very long wait times on hold...), but cancelled and rebooked for a VGT rate.
We decided to fly into Barcelona the day before the cruise and stay another night after to enjoy the city, giving us a 9 night trip. We booked our flights and hotels through British Airways Holidays, and the cruise through Dreams Unlimited when we rebooked for the VGT.
Itinerary
Travel day - May 19 - flying to Barcelona, staying at H10 Port Vell
Day 1 - May 20 - Barcelona (embarkation)
Day 2 - May 21 - Toulon
Day 3 - May 22 - Livorno
Day 4 - May 23 - Civitavecchia
Day 5 - May 24 - Naples
Day 6 - May 25 - Day at Sea
Day 7 - May 26 - Palma
Day 8 - May 27 - Barcelona (debarkation), staying at H10 Urquinaona Plaza
Day 9 - May 28 - Barcelona / fly home
Pre-Trip Prep
When I looked at our travel options, I couldn't get direct flights for the Friday from Glasgow and we couldn't travel sooner due to work schedules. I held off until Black Friday and booked through British Airways holidays which worked out as the cheapest combination of flights and hotels. It also let me book flights plus hotels for the 19th and 27th as one package which was convenient.
I've always got a spreadsheet for my Disney trips and this was no different. I used two books as my main guides, The Unofficial Guide to Disney Cruise Line, and Rick Steve's Mediterranean Cruise Ports. Those were great for getting an overall view of the ship and the ports we'd visit. We also found The Dis / DCL Fan content really helpful, we watched Craig and Corey's "two dudes on a cruise" series for our sailing on the Magic and were happy to discover there was a version on the Dream!
We've both been to Florence and Pisa (the main destinations from Livorno), I've been to Palma, and we agreed we'd rather jump on a cheap flight to Rome and spend a weekend there instead of paying for a tour from Civitavecchia. Our key goal was to enjoy the ship, so we decided to book just one Port Adventure, NP39 Pompeii Half Day - Adult Only Departure.
Booking and check-in windows opened at 5am UK time so those were early starts! We were able to get the tour that we wanted, I'd hoped for Remy Dessert but it was only running once so it was sold out by the Silver window. On check-in day, DH grabbed a reservation for the Royal Gathering and I did a speed-run through the check-in process to grab an early Port Arrival Time. We managed to get a 12:15 PAT, boarding group 4.
After lots of research, I'd selected a Cat 7A that didn't seem too obstructed when we made the original booking. Changing to a VGT was a gamble, but it was such a big saving that we decided it was worth it. 11 days out we were assigned 5536, a Cat 4E with a huge extended verandah!
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I'll leave it there for tonight!
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