Disney Mediterranean Cruise - Part 3

Welcome to the third, and final, installment of photos from our Disney Mediterranean Cruise.  If you missed part one and two you can click here and here.

Day 7 - La Spezia, Italy  (Florence)

After Rome we were exhausted, but we still had a few more stops to make.  Next up was Florence.  However, the port of La Spezia where the ship docks is 2 1/2 hours from Florence.  Yes...2 1/2 hours...each way by bus.

Florence is beautiful.  Because it takes 2 1/2 hours each way to get to Florence, there was only four hours of free time.  Not really enough time to get into any of the museums.  This time we weren't as smart as we were in Rome and did not pre-buy the tickets online prior to arriving.  Honestly in the end it was just fine.  We were all just as happy to explore the city, which is much smaller and easier to navigate than Rome.

That night on the ship was Pirate night.  My daughter brought her pirate halloween costume from last year.   My son's costume was in his luggage, which was still missing at this point, so we had to purchase him something to wear.  Luckily it's easy on a Disney ship to purchase pirate attire.  That night there was a pirate party on the pool deck.  In the middle of the show Mickey zip-lined from one end of the ship to the other in a "fight" with Captain Hook.  I don't care how old you are...it was pretty cool.

The party ended with the best fireworks show ever!

Day 8 - Ajaccio, Corsica

After the three long days we had just had, it was a pleasure to be in a port where we didn't have any specific excursion set up.  We walked off the ship and explored the town for only half a day.  

  

We found this little market close to the ship that had meats, cheeses and these incredible cutting boards made out of olive wood.  We had to buy one. We loved the bread baskets you see at the top of the photo...but those were 300 euros.  We bought one of the cutting boards for 18 euros instead.  Equally cool...and much easier to get back home.  The bread baskets weighed a ton.

Day 9 - Villefranche, France (Monaco, Monte Carlo)

At 7:00am the phone rang (it was the first morning we were actually going to be able to sleep in).  My son's lost luggage had finally arrived.  My husband and I were hysterically laughing when we saw the luggage.  Look at all of the tags...the luggage had travelled to more places than we had.

We took a tour of Monte Carlo and Monaco that day.  

This is one of the most awesome places.

This is definitely where the rich and famous hang.

Day 10 - At Sea

At this point in the trip this is exactly what we needed...a day to just relax.  It was awesome.  I got a hot stone massage (something I had never done before).  Just what I needed.

A perfect day at sea with Mickey and friends.

Day 11 - Barcelona, Spain

This was the saddest day of the trip.  Because we had the early seating for dinner, we also had the early seating for breakfast on the last day (it's the only day there is an assigned breakfast time).  Breakfast was at 6:45am...ugh.  We still had another day left of the trip since we would be staying a night in Barcelona.   

We stayed in a beautiful Hilton (directly across the street from the mall where my son and I had gone the first day of the trip to find him clothing).  

We bought tickets for a tour bus that you can hop on and off of to see the whole city.  It was the perfect way to see this city.  We visited all of the major sights including the Olympic village from 1992 when Barcelona hosted.  

This trip was the best vacation we have ever taken!  Thanks for taking the time to share in some of the highlights.

-Judy

Disney Mediterranean Cruise - Part 2

If you missed Part 1 on my Mediterranean Cruise click here.

Day 5 - Naples, Italy

Naples was the first port where we needed to take a tender from the ship rather than be docked in a port. This was also the first day that we had a scheduled tour set up.  We booked the tour through Disney and it would take us to Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii.  It was spectacular.  We started by taking the boat you see in the photo to a smaller boat that would circle the isle of Capri.  It was a little windy that day.  It was approximately a 45 minute boat ride to Capri.  My son Alex felt a little sea sick during this ride.  Luckily I had dramamine with me and gave him a half a pill.  Enough to get rid of the yucky feeling but not enough to completely knock him out.  I'm happy to say that it took effect pretty quickly and he was feeling much better before we had to get on an even smaller boat to circle Capri.

Capri is absolutely gorgeous.  How cool is the "face" you can see in the rocks?

Look at the natural caves.

We had the same tour guide for the entire day.  From Capri we took another boat ride to Sorrento.

There we indulged in a six course lunch.  Yes...six courses.  There was more food in this one lunch than I usually eat in an entire day.  It was part of the tour and the menu was pre-set.  Food just kept arriving at our table.

The french fries confused me a little bit...but the rest of the meal was completely authentic Italian...and so YUMMY!
After lunch we boarded a bus and headed to "lost city" of Pompeii.

My kids thought Pompeii was so cool (as did my husband and me).  

It's an entire city that was destroyed after a volcano long, long ago.

Yep...that's what you think it is...it's the bodies of the inhabitants of the city on the day of the volcano.  There bodies were carbonized and basically frozen in time at the time of their deaths.  Very dramatic and powerful.  It was a long but amazing day.  Got back to the ship late...but because we were on a Disney tour they actually held dinner for us.  Nothing better than to walk into the dining room after a super long day and have all of your favorite things waiting for you.

Day 6 - Civitavecchia (Rome)


Now this was the day my kids were waiting for.  My son especially has been wanting to go to Rome for years.  However Rome is a 1 1/2 hour bus ride from the port of Civitavecchia where the ship was docked.  We signed up for the tour Rome on your Own through Disney.  This provided us with transportation from the ship and a tour guide on the bus who gave us information about the city and some tips.  Once in Rome we were on our own.  My husband and I have been to Rome before so we felt confident that we could do the actual tour of Rome on our own.  We did pre-purchase tickets for the Vatican on the internet before we left.  Best decision ever!  The line for tickets was at least a two hour wait otherwise.  Literally we got off the bus and were in the Vatican in less than twenty minutes.

Vatican City is really something special.  St Peter's Basilica is incredible.  We did the Vatican tour and then on the bus our tour guide had given us a tip that if you leave via the right most door at the end of the Sistine Chapel you end up directly in St Peter's Basilica without having to get on another line.

Inside St Peter's Basilica are the tombs of all of the past Popes.  

After we were done touring the Vatican we walked to Trevi Fountain.  Of course we all threw a coin in the fountain...hopefully insuring a return visit to Rome.

After the Trevi Fountain we walked to the Spanish Steps.  My kids had a race up all 138 steps.

From the Spanish Steps we walked to the Colosseum.

Incredible!

From the Colosseum we walked to the Roman Forum.  When we were done walking through, it was time to head back to catch the bus back to the port.  At this point we were all exhausted so it was time to hail a taxi.  We jumped into the first taxi and luckily we asked how much...he wanted a flat fee of 25 euros.  We knew that was ridiculous so we all jumped out.  We went to another taxi that had a meter.  The fare turned out to be less than 10 euros.  

Again we were late for dinner, but again since we were with a Disney tour (even if it was just the transportation) they held dinner for us.  

Hope to see you Monday for Part 3 of my Mediterranean adventure.  Have a great weekend.

-Judy

Disney Mediterranean Cruise - Part I

We just got back from a ten day Disney Mediterranean cruise.  Words really can't do the trip justice.  It was absolutely amazing.  

We left New York on Tuesday June 28^th and took an overnight flight to Barcelona.  I had some concerns about my kids sleeping on the flight, but both of them were like pro travelers and slept the entire time.  My husband can fall asleep anywhere... and as for me...well I slept the entire flight, thanks to an eye mask, ear plugs and an Ambien.   

Let me tell you…that is the key to reducing jet lag…sleeping on the flight helped tremendously.  We landed in Barcelona at 10:30 in the morning. (4:30am New York time)

We went to baggage claim and waited for our bags. The first two bags came off the conveyor belt almost immediately.  Unfortunately, only three of our four bags arrived.  Yikes!!  I quickly opened each bag to figure out which of the bags was missing...it was my son’s bag that was missing.  Quite frankly, of all the bags to be lost, his was the best case scenario.  First of all he is very easy going and second of all I spun the situation to be very positive telling him we would be going on an adventure.  After going to the lost luggage claim area and filling out a bunch of forms, we were off to the port.

When we arrived at the port my daughter and husband boarded the ship and my son and I arranged with Disney for a bus to a Barcelona mall to buy my son some clothing (we had less than an hour to shop because the ship would be departing soon). 

Keep in mind neither myself or my son speak any Spanish but we were able to get by with alot of hand motions and facial expressions.  Luckily we found a H&M in the mall.  I bought Alex enough new summer clothes to get him through three days (thinking that would be sufficient…spoiler to the story…the luggage did not arrive until day 9 of the cruise).  The only thing we couldn’t get at H&M was a “formal” outfit for formal night. 

This photo is not of the Zara we shopped in...
we took the picture later because we started to see this store in every city

We went to a store called Zara and got him khacki’s and a button down oxford shirt.  With that bit of business taken care of it was time to get back to the ship and start this vacation. It's so exciting when you step on board of the Disney Magic.

They announce your family (okay...that part was a little sad since half of our family was already on board when Alex and I arrived).   We immediately knew this was going to be an amazing cruise.  We made our way to our stateroom and to find the other half of our family.  When we got to the room I was so happy to see a cell phone (that only works on the ship).  My husband and daughter had the other one so it was so easy to find them.  Having the cell phones also made giving my kids freedom on the ship that much easier.  Everyone lasted through dinner and the show...although I did nod off a few times during the show that night.  By 9:30 pm we were in bed and no one woke up until 9:30 the next morning.

Yes...we were all exhausted.


Day 2 - At Sea


Personally days at sea are my favorite.  I know we are there to see Europe...but it's really nice to just sit back and relax on the ship.  There are so many activities to chose from or you can just relax by one of the three pools.  My kids headed directly to the Edge club where they met so many kids and had so much fun.  The best part was they came and went from Edge at will and had more freedom than they have ever had before.  My husband and I went to relax by the adult pool.  Later that day my husband and I went to the gym to workout.  Now in real life I work-out 4-5 days a week.  On this cruise...I only saw the inside of the gym one other time (on the only other day at sea...day 10 of the cruise).  My favorite time of each day was dinner time.  There is something so special about dinners on the Disney cruise.  First of all the servers wait on you like royalty.  After the first night they know your preferences and have it ready for you (ie I like club soda, my son sprite etc).  Second, each night they greet you like family.  This became so important to us...especially after the long days in Rome and Florence when you are beyond exhausted and there's nothing better than seeing your server's smiling faces. Each night after dinner there was a show.  Three of the nights there were Broadway quality productions, another night there was a magician, another a comedian etc.  Each show was spectacular.


Day 3 - Valletta, Malta

When we woke up that morning and looked out our port hole...this is what we saw.

Malta is incredible...just look at the architecture.  Really beautiful.  This was a short day...easing us into what was coming.  We were able to walk from the ship into town.  Getting into town was easy.  Getting back to the ship proved to be more difficult.  We could see the ship, but couldn't seem to get to the ship.  The roads are curvy and come to dead ends.

There was an incredible church in Malta (only a taste of what we would see in the other ports).

There were also these amazing bell towers all over that would ring exactly at 12:00 noon.

Day 4 - Palermo, Sicily

Palermo is equally amazing.  We were told to find the markets which were a long walk from the ship...but well worth the walk.

We ate fresh mozzarella, bread and prosciutto. A-MAZ-ING!!

Like I said it was a long walk to the markets and once you walk through the markets you kind of lose your bearings.  This photo is very representative of my husband and I most of the day in Palermo...constantly trying to figure out the map.

Stop back tomorrow for Part 2.  Hope to see you then.

-Judy