Transatlantic & Med 2011 BLOGs and TRIP REPORTs and other Important FAQ

Truthfully, we did not do any of the kid-friendly tours. My kids had a blast. In fact we met another family onboard and most of our days were spent with them. My kids were 6 and 9 at the time of the cruise.

I did try and mix up our tours with half day tours and full day tours. The adults sitting at the table next to us did mostly all day tours so, they saw more than we did. With 4 sea days this time in Baltics I'm gonna aim for all day tours just because I thought they were more valuable.

I think, with Adventures by Disney they would have to have kid friendly tours in order to keep the kids happy. Where on DCL you don't have to do them as you return to the ship every evening.

My kids LOVED Pompeii, PISA, Rome & Villefranche Ports. They weren't too excited about some of the half day tours we did were we visited churches, etc... Florence was boring as it was a VERY long bus ride for them and the guide we had WAS HORRIBLE. She did not allow anyone to speak because she felt it was rude to talk while she was talking. We had to focus on her the whole trip. She wouldn't let people skip lunch to tour on their own. All the other tour guides were very FLEXIBLE. Like for our ROME tour it did not include the Steps (I can't think of the name of it). Anyways... many of us left at one point when the tour guide told us to and took a cab to the steps and fountains and then, met everyone for lunch. Lunches were 2 to 3 hours long so, it was pretty easy to do a quick tour of something.

DCL also provided each evening a little booklet about the next port. So, the kids could read about it every evening.


Thanks! I know that the Adventures by Disney is a different animal but if you watched the announcment by Tom Halpin of the itineraries, some of the video they showed - I SWEAR it was right out of the A by Disney video so I thought maybe they did some similar excursions on the Med Cruise.

I keep reading bad experiences by people who went to Florence. But Florence is where my late mother's family is from and I've never been there so I absolutely must see the city. I'm hoping to find someone somewhere (so far nothing on the trip reports I have read) who enjoyed their time in Florence.
 
I found my old tour excursion booklet from the Meditteranean. Here are what I thought were Kid friendly tours. I didn't see any that were similar as the ones by Adventures of Disney. But I'm sure this time around they would know more about the places to do more kid friendly ones.

Barcelona
Aquarium and Park Guell
Science Museum and Maze
Chocolate Museum (mold your own chocolate confection)
Barcelona Bicycle Tour

Palermo--We had the best Ice Tea/Lemonade drink here. YUMMY..

Palermo for kids (included a Sicilian puppet show & Arts and Crafts
A Day on the Farm -- tour of working farm & swimming pool & tour a cave
Beach Day

Naples

Pompeii, Sorrento & Capri for Families (we didn't do this tour as we thought it was too many places in one day. I heard that on the Pompeii part they didn't show some areas because kids might be senstive to it)

Beach Day

Sardinia

Gnocchetti Sardi & Ravioli (making pasta-- I wish we did this one as the island was pretty boring)

Train to Gallura (very popular)

2 Beach locations here

Lots of other cool things to do in the port but they had age limits. YOu had to be 10 and older.

ROME

Narnia tour

La Spezia

Lucca Treasure Hunt -- Scavenger hunt
Lucca by Bike (ages 10 + though)
Lerici's Castle and Dinosaurs
Beach excursion
Genoa, Aquarium & Chocolate Factory

Marseille

Soap & Marseille City (soap making)

VilleFranche

Monaco, the Marina & the Little Train
Create your Own Perfume
Beach day

HOpe this helps...
 
I found my old tour excursion booklet from the Meditteranean. Here are what I thought were Kid friendly tours. I didn't see any that were similar as the ones by Adventures of Disney. But I'm sure this time around they would know more about the places to do more kid friendly ones.

Barcelona
Aquarium and Park Guell
Science Museum and Maze
Chocolate Museum (mold your own chocolate confection)
Barcelona Bicycle Tour

Palermo--We had the best Ice Tea/Lemonade drink here. YUMMY..

Palermo for kids (included a Sicilian puppet show & Arts and Crafts
A Day on the Farm -- tour of working farm & swimming pool & tour a cave
Beach Day

Naples

Pompeii, Sorrento & Capri for Families (we didn't do this tour as we thought it was too many places in one day. I heard that on the Pompeii part they didn't show some areas because kids might be senstive to it)

Beach Day

Sardinia

Gnocchetti Sardi & Ravioli (making pasta-- I wish we did this one as the island was pretty boring)

Train to Gallura (very popular)

2 Beach locations here

Lots of other cool things to do in the port but they had age limits. YOu had to be 10 and older.

ROME

Narnia tour

La Spezia

Lucca Treasure Hunt -- Scavenger hunt
Lucca by Bike (ages 10 + though)
Lerici's Castle and Dinosaurs
Beach excursion
Genoa, Aquarium & Chocolate Factory

Marseille

Soap & Marseille City (soap making)

VilleFranche

Monaco, the Marina & the Little Train
Create your Own Perfume
Beach day

HOpe this helps...


Definitely helps. THank you . Not sure why the Mods keep insisting on hiding specific questions like mine in threads that have nothing to do with what I asked (my question is not related to transatlantic) but I thank you for finding me!
 
Definitely helps. THank you . Not sure why the Mods keep insisting on hiding specific questions like mine in threads that have nothing to do with what I asked (my question is not related to transatlantic) but I thank you for finding me!

Your thread was merged with this one because you were inquiring about trip reports and excursions from the summer of 2006 when the Magic was in the Med. This thread has a list of links to ALL of the trip reports from that time, not just the transatlantic. There is also a lot of information given on excursions that were available for those cruises, which would assist you with your initial question. I have added "& Med 2006" to the title to show that it is all inclusive.
 


I hope this will help as I don't know what age your kids are. Our children were DD 10 and DS 15. It was rather port intensive but they enjoyed the trip very much. We actually enjoyed the all day excursions as they fed us well and we enjoyed sampling the local cuisine.

In Naples we did an all day tour through DCL starting with a bus ride to Sorrento and a tourist shop. At first we weren't too pleased at being sent to buy souvenirs but it turned out to be educational as we learned about the process of inlaid wood. We then went to a farm where they produced their own olive oil, mozarella, and lemoncello, After a delicious lunch we headed to Pompeii which was amazing. It was, however very hot and quite crowded and not stroller friendly.

Although the 2010 med cruise is not going to Olbia, I scheduled a beach day there because it was midway through the cruise and I thought it would be a nice break from all the sight seeing. It worked quite nicely.

In Civitavecchia we did another all day excursion on the Roma Express which was a private train that got us to Rome in what seemed like no time at all. It was extremely hot but we made it to the Colliseum, bypassing the lines. We also walked through the streets to the Trevi Fountain and then the Pantheon. We did a bit more walking to the Piazza Navona before we took the bus to our lunch destination. After being well fed we went to the Vatican and St. Peter's square and the Basillica. Our kids were quite tired after all this but there was one toddler who seemed miserable most of the day.

In La Spezia because I figured we would be kind of burned out we went for a half day excursion to Pisa and we were glad we did. It was just enough for the day. My husband and I would have liked to have gone to Florence but it was a long bus ride and didn't think any of us were up to it. Plus, we wanted to see Pisa.

And, finally, in Villefranche, we decided to split up. Because the excursions didn't seem to satisfy everyone, my dd and I went to a perfumerie and the amazing village of Eze while the boys went to Monte Carlo to see the prince's car collection. It was only a half day and everyone agreed that it was well spent.

As I said, I hope this helps and we enjoyed our trip of a lifetime immensely!
 
With kids I would recommend private tours as per my post on page one, you can tailor this to their kids build in breaks, if you want to move on faster/slower you can and the driver often knows the place to stop for a restroom.

Rome Naples and Florence/Piza in particular are places you should consider a private tour, and the cost might not be to far away from DCL tours for a familiy of 4, we share with another familiy and it was great value.
 


Your thread was merged with this one because you were inquiring about trip reports and excursions from the summer of 2006 when the Magic was in the Med. This thread has a list of links to ALL of the trip reports from that time, not just the transatlantic. There is also a lot of information given on excursions that were available for those cruises, which would assist you with your initial question. I have added "& Med 2006" to the title to show that it is all inclusive.

Considering the Magic was in the Med in 2007, that's not very helpful .
 
I hope this will help as I don't know what age your kids are. Our children were DD 10 and DS 15. It was rather port intensive but they enjoyed the trip very much. We actually enjoyed the all day excursions as they fed us well and we enjoyed sampling the local cuisine.

In Naples we did an all day tour through DCL starting with a bus ride to Sorrento and a tourist shop. At first we weren't too pleased at being sent to buy souvenirs but it turned out to be educational as we learned about the process of inlaid wood. We then went to a farm where they produced their own olive oil, mozarella, and lemoncello, After a delicious lunch we headed to Pompeii which was amazing. It was, however very hot and quite crowded and not stroller friendly.

Although the 2010 med cruise is not going to Olbia, I scheduled a beach day there because it was midway through the cruise and I thought it would be a nice break from all the sight seeing. It worked quite nicely.

In Civitavecchia we did another all day excursion on the Roma Express which was a private train that got us to Rome in what seemed like no time at all. It was extremely hot but we made it to the Colliseum, bypassing the lines. We also walked through the streets to the Trevi Fountain and then the Pantheon. We did a bit more walking to the Piazza Navona before we took the bus to our lunch destination. After being well fed we went to the Vatican and St. Peter's square and the Basillica. Our kids were quite tired after all this but there was one toddler who seemed miserable most of the day.

In La Spezia because I figured we would be kind of burned out we went for a half day excursion to Pisa and we were glad we did. It was just enough for the day. My husband and I would have liked to have gone to Florence but it was a long bus ride and didn't think any of us were up to it. Plus, we wanted to see Pisa.

And, finally, in Villefranche, we decided to split up. Because the excursions didn't seem to satisfy everyone, my dd and I went to a perfumerie and the amazing village of Eze while the boys went to Monte Carlo to see the prince's car collection. It was only a half day and everyone agreed that it was well spent.

As I said, I hope this helps and we enjoyed our trip of a lifetime immensely!

Thank you for finding my now hidden post! This is greatly helpful.
 
With kids I would recommend private tours as per my post on page one, you can tailor this to their kids build in breaks, if you want to move on faster/slower you can and the driver often knows the place to stop for a restroom.

Rome Naples and Florence/Piza in particular are places you should consider a private tour, and the cost might not be to far away from DCL tours for a familiy of 4, we share with another familiy and it was great value.

Thanks Andrew. Great tip. Everyone talks about how far the port is from Florence. How long of a ride is it?
 
Thanks Andrew. Great tip. Everyone talks about how far the port is from Florence. How long of a ride is it?

My Private vehicle traveling above the speed limit did it in 1 hour 15, I think you should allow 1.5 hours.

Pisa is on a triangle of freeways getting back so breaks up the journey. Do book the tower in advance on-line the kids loved this. We did it around 3.30pm and told our Private tour operator.
 
Originally Posted by xangav
I hope this will help as I don't know what age your kids are. Our children were DD 10 and DS 15. It was rather port intensive but they enjoyed the trip very much. We actually enjoyed the all day excursions as they fed us well and we enjoyed sampling the local cuisine.

In Naples we did an all day tour through DCL starting with a bus ride to Sorrento and a tourist shop. At first we weren't too pleased at being sent to buy souvenirs but it turned out to be educational as we learned about the process of inlaid wood. We then went to a farm where they produced their own olive oil, mozarella, and lemoncello, After a delicious lunch we headed to Pompeii which was amazing. It was, however very hot and quite crowded and not stroller friendly.

Although the 2010 med cruise is not going to Olbia, I scheduled a beach day there because it was midway through the cruise and I thought it would be a nice break from all the sight seeing. It worked quite nicely.

In Civitavecchia we did another all day excursion on the Roma Express which was a private train that got us to Rome in what seemed like no time at all. It was extremely hot but we made it to the Colliseum, bypassing the lines. We also walked through the streets to the Trevi Fountain and then the Pantheon. We did a bit more walking to the Piazza Navona before we took the bus to our lunch destination. After being well fed we went to the Vatican and St. Peter's square and the Basillica. Our kids were quite tired after all this but there was one toddler who seemed miserable most of the day.

In La Spezia because I figured we would be kind of burned out we went for a half day excursion to Pisa and we were glad we did. It was just enough for the day. My husband and I would have liked to have gone to Florence but it was a long bus ride and didn't think any of us were up to it. Plus, we wanted to see Pisa.

And, finally, in Villefranche, we decided to split up. Because the excursions didn't seem to satisfy everyone, my dd and I went to a perfumerie and the amazing village of Eze while the boys went to Monte Carlo to see the prince's car collection. It was only a half day and everyone agreed that it was well spent.

As I said, I hope this helps and we enjoyed our trip of a lifetime immensely!

Thank you for finding my now hidden post! This is greatly helpful.
Today 01:30 PM

You are very welcome. And I agree that the posts shouldn't be "hidden". It's like a maze trying to find the info you want as is. Good Luck!
 
Is there anyone out there who did the Med with small children? My DD's will be 5 & 2 and a half...

Mel
x
 
Is there anyone out there who did the Med with small children? My DD's will be 5 & 2 and a half...

Mel
x
I've asked this same question, and from what I've been told it's mostly adults. We will have a little one that should be 18 months by the time of the Sept. Med that we want to book. We're going to go ahead and give it a try.
 
I would say min age for any kid is 4 for the Med, but only parents know their own kids,

There is a lot to do, lots of very long days and it can be hard for kids, the Med trip I was on had lots of Children say 5 upwards on it.
 
It will really depend on the parents/kids. Remember that Europe is not "stroller friendly" at all so children will need to walk or be carried ( or stay on the ship).
 
I would say min age for any kid is 4 for the Med, but only parents know their own kids,

There is a lot to do, lots of very long days and it can be hard for kids, the Med trip I was on had lots of Children say 5 upwards on it.

Ours will be nearly 6 and nearly 12 on the trip so we think it will be perfect. Don't want to wait too long for the oldest but wanted to wait until the youngest could handle it. Tough when you have such a wide age range in kids
 
Ours will be nearly 6 and nearly 12 on the trip so we think it will be perfect. Don't want to wait too long for the oldest but wanted to wait until the youngest could handle it. Tough when you have such a wide age range in kids

That should be great and very educational for both,
 
Is there anyone out there who did the Med with small children? My DD's will be 5 & 2 and a half...

Mel
x
I was hoping to find some information for those who took this age range as well. Mine would be 3 1/2 and 5 1/2 for the TransAtlantic cruise. I am mostly worried about the flight. They have some trouble with their flight from PA to FL!!!
 

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