Mediterranean Cruise

You would think days at sea would be restful.  While they are more restful than our fast-paced shore excursions, the sea days are not exceptionally restful either.  We must have all of our baggage packed and out in the hall by 10 pm.  With dinner starting at 8:30, we are not generally done by 10, so must aim to be finished before dinner.  You have to keep out anything that you will need for that evening and the next morning and carry that out, along with any carry on luggage that you have.  Along with sorting out where the liquids and spray cans must be packed, it becomes an involved process, but it all fit back in. 

We were one of the early flights, so have gotten a special sticker which will allow us to eat and leave with the first group of people.  We were up around 5am to get dressed and have some breakfast before the 6:30 scheduled deportation time.  The ship was not cleared until about 6:50, so there was quite a group waiting patiently to actually get off and begin the wild process of finding all of our bags and getting them to the bus.  We are riding the Disney shuttle bus, in hopes that it will get us there with no hassles.  Getting there was smooth enough, but checking the bags at the Iberia counter took over an hour.  The plane was delayed leaving Barcelona, where we have to switch planes to get the flight to Boston.  No real problems until we were in Boston.  We thought we had a 3 hour layover, which turned out to be about a 7 hour layover, due to weather problems that were not in Boston yet.  At least we were in the airport and could get food and bathrooms when needed.  We heard from other on the trip that were changing planes in Newark that they ended up sitting on  the ground in Boston for over 5 hours, without food.  They did finally get some water, crackers and toilet paper for their plane.  We got in about 2 am Houston time, which was about 9 am Barcelona time.  That’s about a 29 hour day we had with some small cat naps, but not much else.  We were very ready to get in our own beds!!

Welcome to Villefranche!

The port at Marseille.      We load a free bus shuttle that takes passengers from the ship into town.      We are here on Sunday, so only the flea market shops around the fish market are open, but we stopped to take in the cow sculpture and the wonderful smells of the fish market, NOT.            

  We rode the little blue train way up steep hills to the church, Notre Dame de la Garde at the top.                               

After coming back on the little blue train, Stephanie decided she wanted to return to the ship with several other families to get in on the kids activities.  Brian and I stayed to have lunch in french cafe across from the Med sea.  Knowing the language would have really helped.  Their menu posted outside the cafe said they had sandwiches, but when I asked about them, the waiter understood fish soup.  We decided to both have lasagne.  We also had a large bottle of water (no gas) - actually understood this.  Then we decided to also have some wine.  I remembered my spanish version of wine - vino, but the waiter acted like he had no idea.  (It’s vin in french, so you would have thought he would have caught on)  So we began the pointing game and he grabbed the carafe off of another table.  When he brought the wine carafe, no additional glasses were brought.  So you drink down the water, then some wine.  We alternated.  The price of the wine is cheaper than the large bottle of water.  3.90 Euros for water and 3.75 Euros for a carafe of wine.      After lunch we walked arund the fort, but could not go in due to siesta time.                   Time to head back to the boat for a dip in the pool and change for the show and dinner.

June 22, 2007 - Day at Sea

Days at sea should be relaxing, but we have quite a few events scheduled throughout the day to keep us busy.  Stephanie has her own schedule to keep her going in the kids club and with all the girls she has met.  We went to the Castaway Club get together and Brian won a silver desk clock.  Then off to try to win a 300 dollar cabin credit, with no luck.  After lunch, went to a margarita tasting and learned a lot of good info. A DIS board meet and greet, then the show “Twice Charmed” all before dinner.

Ready for another brutal day ahead.  Up early to eat, get dressed, and be in line to meet in the theater for tour at 7:30 am.  We have several families that are going on the same tour, so we are meeting outside to coordinate getting on the same bus.  Once your bus load number is called, you go down to the lowest deck to begin tendering from the ship to the port.  Very nice looking city.        Then we load a bus for the ride into Florence - a little over 2 hours.  View on the way.      

We began the Florence tour walkPiazza del Duomo where you can climb the Campanile (cathedral dome), and see the Baptistery ing through small allies again.  It seems that the buses can’t get through these, so we must park a ways from where we are actually going.  The first stop is at the cathedral of Piazza del Duomo where you can climb the Campanile (cathedral dome), and see the Baptistery, but we were not allowed that option.              Inside the cathedral.

    Artists working out in the street with chalk and pastels. 

        Master Pietro Tacca originally sculpted this bronze boar, located in front of the Mercato Nuovo, in the early 17th century. It is said that rolling a coin down its snout into the fountain brings good luck, and that whoever does so will not fail to return to Florence one day.  Of course, our tour guide saw no reason to even stop and look at this, so I had to run away from the group, get the picture, and then find the group again.  This tour guide does not like to hold up her sign, so it makes it even more difficult to find her.  Listen for her clicking heels.

        Stores on the Ponte Vecchio bridge.  The best master craftsmen of gold in the world create their works here in 18K gold.  Very pretty and very pricey.  View from the bridge  

     Although we didn’t get to see the real statue of David in the Academia Museum, we saw a copy of Michelangelo’s famous statue David stands in front of Palazzo Vecchio. The plaza area is filled with other statues as well.         We are then off to find our bus, again, quite a ways away.  Now for the long Italian lunch and then ride on the bus over an hour to reach Pisa.

Pisa and the Baptistry.  We had twenty minutes to take pictures of all these sites, go to the bathroom (which you have to pay for), get a small souvenier statue of Pisa for Stephanie, and get back to the meeting place.  No time to tour the Baptistry.                 Time to head back to the ship.

Today is going to be quite a long day due to the fact that Rome is not that close to the coast area of Civatavecchia.  Up early around 6 to get dressed and go to Topsiders for breakfast before departure at 7:30.  Long lines to stand in to even get into the theater where our tour meets.  We have chosen a tour that will take us by train to Rome - The Roma Express.        

It is about a 1 1/2 hour ride on the train to reach Rome, so there was time for Peter Pan to visit and talk about his shadow.  Arrival at the Rome train station.      We are off and running on our tour to see Rome in less than a day. 

We begin at the Colosium.                  

After the colosium, we load up on the bus and are off to another part of town to see the Trevi Fountain and Pantheon.  We parked quite a ways away from either and walked through many small ally ways, often with cars parked on bo th sides.  The cars aren’t large, but still makes it a bit more difficult to navigate such a large bus group.   

Many vendors set up to sell various items, but no chance to even look.  You have to keep up with the tour guide so you don’t have to find your own way back.  It is really amazing that the Trevi fountain is set way back in the middle of all thse small allies and then all of a sudden to come to an open area with the most fantastic and elaborate fountian that you have ever seen.  Makes you go WOW!           

We walked from the fountain down some more small allies to the Pantheon.  All of a sudden it opens up and you have a fantastic structure before you.       Once you enter the building, you will be even more awed.  This is the light shining in from the opening in the ceiling, which is the only source of light.       Inside Pantheon   

After Pantheon, we walked back to load the bus and get to our long Italian lunch.  It has been quite warm outside, so we are all very happy to have multiple bottles of water.  We would even drink water with gas, if necessary.  After lunch, we went by the Senate building, which was in session.  They have armed guards outside the building, so don’t try to sneak in.      We are now heading to the square of the Piazza Navona and the  ”Fountain of the Four Rivers” with its Egyptian obelisk.                 

Next stop is Vatican City.  We are just entering in the first picture.

         Ceiling in the Entrance of the Vatican.   

Inside the Vatican                      

Here is our tour guide, Pablo,  for the Rome excursion.   

After our exhausting and hot day (about 95 degrees farenheit), we got back on the train to ride to the port of Civitavecchia.  We had Roman centurians that visited us.   

We had no scheduled tours at this port, so took it easy a bit today.  Stephanie had several activities in the club that she was wanting to do, so we waited until almost noon before getting off the ship.  Took a free shuttle into town and looked around the shops.  This siesta thing is serious business.  At exactly one o’clock, the shop owners began telling us to leave their store.  It doesn’t matter whether you wanted to buy anything or not - you should have done it sooner.  In this town, many of the stores were on siesta from 1-5, although there are a few stores and restaurants that remain open the entire time.       Disney has it’s own flag flying with the other country flags.

Most of the tours take you out of the city of Naples to see some of the surrounding area.  There are quite a few people that have signed up to take tours today.  This is getting on the bus first thing in the morning and you can see the long line of buses waiting to depart.         

They have divided the tours in half, so that half the people begin with the bus portion of the tour, while the other half will begin with a water portion on a boat.

Our first stop on the tour was at a cameo factory.  Mostly for a bathroom stop, but also interesting to see the cameos being carved.      Halfway around the world and we still come across McDonald’s.    

We arrived at the city of Pompeii and were feeling very fortunate to have gotten to come here on the morning tour.  Since there are no roofs, there is very little shade and the sun is out in full force.                   A picture of an original mural that was painted in the market place.      Within the glass case is a body coated with plaster to preseve it.     

Archeologists that are working to dig up new treasures behind the iron bars.        A shop within Pompeii designed to hold urns of wine.

When walking along the narrow alleys that they consider streets, you willnotice a large boulder placed in the center of the alley.  The chariots were still able to allow their wheels on either side of the boulder.  The streets were the drainage system and fill up with water.  This is where the term “stepping stone” began, since they would use these rocks to step across to the other side, avoiding all the water that would fill the streets.  This home in Pompeii would be where some of the richer people would live.  The murals on the wall are hand painted and the entry would have had a water fountain.          The walls were often decorated with hand painted mosiac tiles.

After the very hot morning at Pompeii, we headed back to our bus, only to find out that the bus driver was no where to be found.  We got to wait and wait and wait.  Our tour guide was on the radio trying to get in touch with the driver and had no luck for quite some time.  When he did get in touch with him, we got to hear what an Italian temper sounded like.  After the bus was loaded, we headed down south to Sorrento for lunch.  View along the way. 

Our bus was all at one restaurant.  The lunch has water (with gas and without) along with wine to drink.   We were really wishing for Italian pizza, but more like cheese canoli and french fries.   

Our opinion is that they spend too long at the lunch stops and rush a bit much through some of the sightseeing, just our 2 cents.

Our guide was required to walk us to an inlaid wood furniture store, but after that gave us about 15 - 20 min. of free time or shopping time.    This was one of the main streets.

We found some smaller allies off the main street to try some lemincello, but had to get back to the meeting place quickly.      Fruit stands in back allies.

This picture is where we met and then walked down stairs all the way to the bottom of this ravine.  Sorrento is a beautiful city with very friendly people.  The entire area around there is known for there lemon crops.      One of the little girls at our table brought back a lemon from Sorrento that would have been larger than a softball, but smaller than a basketball. 

After we made it to the bottom, we found our way to a boat to take us to the Isle of Capri.      This first picture is the harbor where we landed and then we took a bus up to the top to Capri Town.  Very Expensive place with many designer stores, so no souvenier shopping, but great scenery.               

Statue as you get off the boat and begin walk into town. 

We did not have a scheduled tour with Disney for this port.  We were so satisfied with the hop on, hop off bus in Barcelona that we thought we would do the same for Palermo. BIG DIFFERENCE.  When we disembarked at the cruise terminal in Palermo, we talked with a lady that sold the bus tickets.  We asked the right questions, but she gave us incorrect information.  We asked how often the buses came - One route was to be every 30 min. and the other route every hour.  Since we had heard about siesta time, we asked if this occurred throughout the entire day and she said yes.  Incorrect info.  It seems that between 1-3 the route that usually has the stops every 30 min., only has them once an hour.  We didn’t find that out until we had waited about an hour and 15 min. in the hot sunny afternoon.  We also asked the same lady about the catacombs being open all day long.  More incorrect info.  After we had gotten off at one of the stops to walk (the supposedly 10 min walk, which was at least 30 min.) to the catacombs, we got there at about 1:05.  Of course they are closed from 1pm -3pm.  So we walked the 30 min. back to the stop and then waited forever to get a bus back to the main part of town to get back to the ship.  A fairly discouraging day in Palermo.  We’ve did see some nice architecture, but doubt that we would return to see any more.

Ride on the bus with Teresa’s family    One of the churches that we found in Palermo, which was way off the beaten path.            Stephanie finds some great vines to do Tarzan swings on.          

Some of the great architecture we saw while riding on the bus.              

Dinner at Palo’s with David, Teresa, & Mark.        Here we are!

We ordered an extra Pepperoni pizza each to take back to the room for Stephanie and their son Stephen.

A day at sea is great because it will be a day to sleep in a little bit.  We had our character breakfast scheduled for this morning (scheduled according to your dining rotation).  Stephanie didn’t want to miss this, so Brian went with her to breakfast and then met our group for brunch at Palo’s.  All of the food at Palo’s is exceptional.  At brunch they have a buffet, so that you can see the food (with labels) before picking it.  They also have main entrees that can be ordered, but you get to see what they look like on the food tour before you eat.  This only happens at the brunch. 

Stephanie loves getting together with the other 12 yr. old girls that are on this cruise.  They began talking to each other on the disboard, so feel like they have met before.  They have activities to do in Ocean Quest, the Lab, and their own activities that they have come up with.

All of the DIS board group has been invited to the Roy Suite (Cat 1) for a group meet and greet.  Very nice suite and such a nice idea for LeiLani and Richard to have us all up there.  The Roy Suite has an entry hall with one of the bathrooms off of it, a living area, a dining area, a master suite with huge walk in closet and huge master bathroom,  another bedroom, along with the best feature - the huge veranda. 

Hit the pool area for awhile before show time in the evening.  Formal dress for dinner tonight to go along with The Golden Mickey show that is presented. 

Viewed the Curse of the Black Pearl (pirate movie) on the Ariel View screen until after midnight.

   Today is the beginning of the cruise.  Taxi comes at 11:00 to take us to the ship’s terminal.  The check-in process went very smoothly and bags were handed over to the porters (you just hope that you will see them again.)

We began seeing other DIS board members as soon as we got to the terminal.  It was great to start putting a face with all the names we have become so accustomed to seeing online on the board.

We had a number 5 for boarding order, which actually went fairly quickly.  There are many who wanted to be here early to board, just like us, so we wait patiently for our turn.  You enter on the bottom floor (unlike Port Canaveral), take an elevator to the 9th deck, and exit out by the pools.  You are filmed as you enter, then the film is shown on the large screen for everyone to see. (picture of Stephanie can be seen on large screen, Brian and I are there, but harder to see.)

We met at 1:30 with about 30 DIS board members for lunch in the Parrot Cay restaurant.  They had a buffet with Mango soup that Silver 7 convinced Stephanie was going to be queso.  What a surprise and a bit of a disappointment!

After lunch, we went to tour Silver 7’s cat 3 stateroom.  Probably a big mistake because it is much nicer than our cat 11.  We have always had a Cat 11, so didn’t think much about it.  After seeing how much room they have, it was difficult to come and unpack all of our luggage into the small amount of space available in our room. 

Mandatory lifeboat drill at 5:30.  We lucked out by having our meeting place in Animator’s Palate (one of the restaurants.)  We have had the outdoor meeting places before and can do without all the squishing together.

Waiting for dinner companions. 

Sail away party at 10pm, but since we had second seating dining, you must leave dinner early to get to the party.  It’s so great to hear the Disney horn again!