To Barcelona and Beyond!!!! May 26 - June 5 on the Magic

[wrennies]

Note to self.....Everything is a plan. Plans can change and things will still be fine!

Me - Mom to this "Crew" (and the only estrogen to be found...hahaha)
DH - Dad to the "Bunch"
DS - 15
DS - 13
DS - 12

We have been planning this trip since September of 2009. It was my idea and I quickly won the DH over. And off course the DSs were "onboard" from the beginning.
It is amazing that we are now a week away. I hope to update this as often as possible while we are away to keep everyone up-to-date on our trip.

[eeyorefanuk]

I hope you have a great time - cannot wait for your updates :goodvibes

[pixie08]

Note to self.....Everything is a plan. Plans can change and things will still be fine!


:rotfl:You sound like me! I am subscribing- have fun!

[wrennies]

Okay, time for a little more info....

Barcelona:
We will (plan to ....keeping fingers crossed that no storms or ash clouds get in our way) arrive in Barcelona on Tuesday, May 25 (8:55 am). We are staying at an "airport" hotel (I wanted to keep tranfers to a minimium with 5 people and tons of luggage). Our plan for the day to to tour Las Ramblas, espically the market (we saw Andrew Zimmerman on Bizzarre Foods and thought the place looked awesome). We are hoping to have an early dinner (espically compared to European standards) and be back at the hotel between 7 and 8 pm. I hope everyone can do this without a nap and maybe we will "conquer" some of the jetlag.

[wrennies]

With this being our first cruise as a family we want to get to the port pretty early, hopefully between 10:00 and 10:30. Other reports say that people were able to board around 11:30 on the the previous cruises. I figure once we get checked in and get our lugguage turned over we will be able to walk around the port for a few minutes until we board.

I am sure a good part of the day will be spent wandering around the ship. The boys will want to see the clubs and I am sure they will find their way to the pool. I am sure a lot of my time will be spent unpacking and trying to figure out how all 5 of us are going to live in one room for 10 days.....!!!!

[wrennies]

I am so looking forward to this day. I know that the boys will have plenty to do. As for DH and myself, I just want to walk on the decks, hopefully see a movie, cheat on my diet (at least once), hopefully there will be a galley tour, and I would love to see the "game shows".
I am also looking forward to "Formal Night" - when you live with 4 males, it is not often that you get to get dressed up...nor see them dressed up.

[wrennies]

This is the one and only Disney excursion that we are doing. It was just perfect for our family. We love the water and boats. On our "usual" summer vacation it has become a tradition to spend a day in St. Augustine and sail on the Schooner Freedom. We love it!!! So this one was easy.

I have included the link to the Disney description of the tour.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/shore-excursions/valletta-malta/chartered-turkish-schooner/

[wrennies]

This is the one that is bothering me still. We were going to do the Beach Break Excursion - Three teenage boys need a "beach break" from all the history and culture of this trip - but disney cancelled it.
Still hoping to get to a beach. We may just spend a little while in the markets and relax on the ship in the afternoon.

Any help with beach info or drivers that anyone used in Tunis previously would be appreciated!!!!

[OurDogCisco]

I'm excited to hear about your cruise!

[Zoom]

I'm so excited for you and your family, Have a wonderful cruise!!! I'm in the process of convincing DH to take the Med cruise in June '11...... so far it's 90% yes :yay:, we have a 9 y/o son who is willing to cancel 2 of our cruises in exchange to this Med cruise!!! :yay:

[maynrive]

With this being our first cruise as a family we want to get to the port pretty early, hopefully between 10:00 and 10:30. Other reports say that people were able to board around 11:30 on the the previous cruises. I figure once we get checked in and get our lugguage turned over we will be able to walk around the port for a few minutes until we board.

I'm not sure that's a really practical plan. Once you get to where the ship is docked, it's a real pain to get back out to where anything is. There's a couple of duty free shops in the check-in area, but not much else. In the waiting area for boarding, they have a signup station for the kids programs and a character picture station. Aside from that, there's not much else to do at the port and you might as well board the ship.

They don't do the safety drill until about 4:30, so if you want to do some exploring in the city before the cruise, I'd suggest waiting until 3:30 to check-in. Personally, I think I'd rather get on board the ship as soon as possible, but that's just me.

Hope you have a good trip.

[wrennies]

First, for all the family members....We made it!!! We were delayed in Atlanta for about one and a half hours, but got to Barcelona about 50 minutes lates. We have checked into the hotel and are getting ready to go sightseeing....most of you are still in bed as it is 6:30 am there....here 12:30 pm.
I will try to post more later as the internet in the hotel is free and fast.

Tracy......let us know you got this either on facebook or here.

[pixie08]

Great news!

[mickeyluv]

First, for all the family members....We made it!!! We were delayed in Atlanta for about one and a half hours, but got to Barcelona about 50 minutes lates. We have checked into the hotel and are getting ready to go sightseeing....most of you are still in bed as it is 6:30 am there....here 12:30 pm.
I will try to post more later as the internet in the hotel is free and fast.

Tracy......let us know you got this either on facebook or here.

Keeping up with your travels! Are you going to post while on the cruise itself? I hope your family has a wonderful trip! We have friends from the UK on this same cruise. :)

[tkmcinturff]

How is the trip so far? What all have you done? Nate you made honor roll, I'm so proud of you.

[wrennies]

Just a quick note of what has "gone on" so far. We had a great first day on the ship. We mainly got used to our home for the next 10 days on Wednesday. The boys all went to their prespective clubs.
Yesterday was at sea. We went to a family game show together and the boys were off on their own again.
Today, we all went out on a schooner to the blue lagoon and around the island of Malta...beautiful!!!! And we did take a lot of pictures. We all swam in the Med. sea even though it was about 68 degrees. It was a very relaxing trip.
Tomorrow is Tunis (Africa). I will try to post more later.

[wrennies]

Today we visited Tunsunia (Tunis) in Africa. We were able to get a cab driver that took us to the market and waited for us. It was very different. The market was very crowded and people were constantly approaching you. Everything is on the barter system. When we first got off the ship a man was passing out flowers. Dallas and I already new how things worked in Tunis and we had briefly explained it to the boys, but they did not have a true understanding. As soon as we said we were not going to pay for the flowers, the man jerked the flowers out of our son’s hand.
We did have a great time in the market. We were able to get some great souvenirs for really cheap prices. We also got a few dinero as souvenirs as the people in Tunis will not exchange the money back to euros or American dollars.
Even though there were street signs posted everywhere, traffic and the driving was scary. No one paid any attention to the markings on the road. Luckily we made to the market and back without a wreck!!!

Jsut "FYI", I am just posting a short description while we are on the ship. I will be updating with pictures when we return to the states.

[wrennies]

Today we are in Naples. We hired a driver (much cheaper then going through Disney) that took us around Naples, to Mt. Vesuvius and to Pompeii. I have never walked up hill so much in my life!!! Pompeii was enormous!!! We had no clue how big it was. We could have spent all day there. Tomorrow is Rome!!!!!

[wrennies]

Today was Rome; it was amazing.....unbelievable!!!! We did a hop on hop off bus. It took us around the entire city. We were also able to go into the Colessum (I am sure I spelled that wrong). We had an English speaking guide and he was great. Again, we took lots of pictures.

[pixie08]

Thanks for the updates!

[wrennies]

We are all truly getting an understanding of the term "I need a vacation from my vacation!!!" We took a train tour of Corica today and then went to the beach. Somehow the boys did not even notice the toples women, I beleive it was because their feet hurt too much from the rocks. I can not wait to get back to a sandy beach!!!

[tkmcinturff]

I just now figured out how this crazy web site works, I've been sitting here for over a week thinking that you guys weren't posting anything. I'm glad everyone is having a good time. Tell Nate I miss him and I love him. Have him call as soon as he is back in the good ole USA.:cheer2:

[mickeyluv]

Thanks for posting about your adventures!! Loved reading them! If you see The Atkinson family from the UK tell them Glen, Pam, & Allison said hello....LOL!! I'm sure you'll not know them even if you saw them but you never know who you'll meet while on a Disney cruise...it's like Magic! (i know corny huh)

[wrennies]

We are in Villefrance today. We toured the area and then went to a beach....no way to avoid the topless thing here. They said that the beaches were soft sand....NOT. Maybe a little softer rocks, but not sand! The water was still too cold and we were all ready to get back to the pool pretty quick. Tomorrow we will be at sea and then we return home on Saturday.

I will be posting a lot more detail and pictures when we get home.

[tkmcinturff]

Nate better not come home with pictures of women at topless beaches to show all of his friends!!! Are you all trying to corrupt my sweet innocent boy? LOL

[pixie08]

We are all truly getting an understanding of the term "I need a vacation from my vacation!!!" We took a train tour of Corica today and then went to the beach. Somehow the boys did not even notice the toples women, I beleive it was because their feet hurt too much from the rocks. I can not wait to get back to a sandy beach!!!

:rotfl:I know this med cruise is intense! I am excited but expect to exhausted. Glad to hear all is going well (and the boys were too tired to notice the topless bathers lol!)

[yow]

Thanks for the updates -- very helpful for our planning. Looking forward to more! :)

[Eeyore77]

I just got off this Cruise this AM aznd it was a blast. I think that everyone on there was really tired in the end, but it was a trip that I will never forget.

[graysm]

Can't wait to read more about your cruise. My DS and I depart Newark on August 16 for the August 18 Med cruise. Keep it coming!!

[wrennies]

okay, so with a really busy summer, I am finally getting around to updating the trip report. I am going to start with the ports and then go to things on the ship.

[wrennies]

We were told that this was one of the most beautiful "ports" and that it would be worth our while to be up early as the ship pulled into port. So we did.....
I was going to add the picture, but it wants a link.....a am unsure of how to do this.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs067.ash2/36710_1431372297453_1027258054_31311716_476527_n.j pg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs067.ash2/36710_1431372137449_1027258054_31311713_7147771_n. jpg

Anyway, we did a disney excursion, "Turkish Schooner" which was wonderful. We left the ship at around 8:30 to board the other small boat that was waiting for us. It was still fairly cool out. We were given mats to sit or lay on. It was a beautiful ride. We took tons of pictures ( i hope to post these when someone helps me out with how). At around 11:00 we anchor and were allowed to swim. We wondered why they wanted everyone to take a "pool noodle" before jumping in.....then they told us the water was only about 60 degrees. I was very glad to have the noodle. It took your breathe away. The water was beautiful. They also had googles and snorkels and we were about to look at the fish. We never got used to the water, but it was just so beautiful that you could not resist getting in.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs067.ash2/36710_1431372377455_1027258054_31311718_331661_n.j pg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs127.snc4/36710_1431372617461_1027258054_31311722_5071882_n. jpg
They prepared a buffet lunch and there was also an open bar (wine and beer). The lunch included sandwich meats, pastas, crab salad, fresh fruit, rolls. It was good, but not awesome. We moved to a more secluded area and again anchored. We were able to watch some people cliff jumping.
The views were incredidble.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs147.snc4/36710_1431372577460_1027258054_31311721_5030664_n. jpg
The water was so blue.

We returned to the ship around 5:00.
If you have any questions about this excursion, I will be happy to answer. It was awesome, but in a way I feel like we missed out because we never went into the city at all.

[TheThomsLuvDisney]

subbing in! Can't wait for pictures!

[akluss]

Thanks for the report. We leave on August 27th and I am trying to get information about the ports so we can decie what to do in each place.

[wrennies]

http://C:\Users\WrennDallas\Desktop\Disn

[bbn1122]

If I pursue my idea for this this cruise or the shorter 7 Med in 2012. I will probably drive you crazy with questions for the next year.

I also have 3 DS's ages 16, 12 and 10, they will be 18, 14 and 12 when I planned to take a Med cruise in 2012. Two of my sons will be graduating (HS and grammar School) and I will turn 50 that June. So, from looking at these boards so much I have stumble upon these unbelievable trip reports and now I want to go on a European cruise.

I am worried about them being bored with some of the excursions. Italy is one of the only places I have ever been and I always wanted to go back.
I also notice how increbibly expensive so of the excurisions are.

Well, your trip report so far is excellent. I am looking forward to any other info you provide and any other phots.:love:

[birkner]

If I pursue my idea for this this cruise or the shorter 7 Med in 2012. I will probably drive you crazy with questions for the next year.

I also have 3 DS's ages 16, 12 and 10, they will be 18, 14 and 12 when I planned to take a Med cruise in 2012. Two of my sons will be graduating (HS and grammar School) and I will turn 50 that June. So, from looking at these boards so much I have stumble upon these unbelievable trip reports and now I want to go on a European cruise.

I am worried about them being bored with some of the excursions. Italy is one of the only places I have ever been and I always wanted to go back.
I also notice how increbibly expensive so of the excurisions are.

Well, your trip report so far is excellent. I am looking forward to any other info you provide and any other phots.:love:

My suggestion to you is to get your kids involved in the planning. My husband and I decided to take our youngest then 16 year old DD and her best friend to Europe.

We let both of them totally plan the itinerary, excursions, where we would stay etc. DH and I decided the trip was for them, not necessarily what we would have done if it was just DH and myself.

Though most of what they planned was geared towards 16 year olds, we did have a fabulous time touring Europe. You might be surprised how frugal kids can be with your money if you give them a budget and let them plan your cruise and excursions.

Just my thoughts.
:surfweb:

[bbn1122]

Thanks for your advice.

I have been showing my DS's all the great photos posted here....two of them want to go tomorrow...especially if we go to Tunis...they want to ride a Camel!!!

:)

[Adsmama]

Thanks for the report! Can't wait for the rest! I go Aug 18!

[wrennies]

First thing....aviod the dinar (tunis currency). Most places take euro, even prefer euros. The thing about the dinar is that you can exchange to get as much as you want, but they will not exchange it back. Therefore you are "stuck" with the extra as a souvenior.

We did not have alot planned for this day. We just wanted to see a little of the culture. We were going to walk to the train station. We had to pass by all the cabs that were waiting. They were very pushy, but we passed....the first time.

As we walked we felt very out of place an uncomfortable. We decided to go back. We found out that only four people could fit into a cab and there was no way we were splitting up so we left again. Then one of the driver told us that if we were willing to "hide" one of the kids when we passed police he would take us to the market, wait two hours and bring us back. I believe this was for forty euros. We were a little nervous, but felt this was better than splitting up.

The driver spoke pretty good english and was pleasant. He did exactly as we asked and also took the long way back to the ship to show us a round a little.
The market was as everyone says, lots of bargaining and very pushy people. They were constantly after me and not as much with my husband. We walked through once, just quickly looking and then came back to the places we had seen things. We got some great things at awesome prices. I feel like our best souveniors were from here because they really showed the culture.http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-ash2/hs114.ash2/39057_1475076350027_1027258054_31436832_5754380_n. jpg
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs269.snc4/39805_1475076230024_1027258054_31436830_3230689_n. jpg

http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc4/hs230.snc4/38815_1475076550032_1027258054_31436834_7131848_n. jpg
Be aware that Many of the people in the market would try to deal in dinar and then try to switch to euros....which are worth twice as much.

We did not eat or drink anything here.
(I will add pics later tonight or tomorrow)

[wrennies]

This is the day that we were all looking most forward to. We hired a driver for 300 Euros to take us to Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.
The driver met us at the port (we had decided on 10:00 so we could sleep in a little). He was great and the van was very nice and clean. He drove us around Naples for a few minutes. We were very surprised at how dirty things were (trash along the side of the road). It also took us by an ATM. Then we went to Mt. Vesuvius. We purchased our tickets (no credit cards were accepted) and began our hike. It was much harder than I thought, but the trail was extremely nice (wide, gravel, clean). I took us about 2 hours to go and come back down. There were also several souvenior shops along the way. Prices were good we felt and we bought several things.
Our driver then took us for pizza which was okay (it was at the Pompeii site). The enterance to Pompeii was also cash only (Euros). there were several souvenior shops that did take credit cards.
I tried to use the ATM at the Pompeii site and it "ate" my card!!! thus leaving us with only one ATM card for the rest of the trip and also a $600 limit per day. This was a little stressful at first, but in the end was not a problem. this is something that you may want to think about though. All the ATMs we saw in Europe were the "old type" that actually takes your card in (instead of just swiping it, or pulling it out quickly).
Back to Pompeii. There is very little shade and a lot to see. we were amazed at how big it was. We had set - up for 3 hours with our driver and could have spent the whole day here. There was a lot of the same stuff (houses, and baths that looked the same) but everything was really spread out. This was also a lot of walking.
We were extremely tired after this day.. I took a nap before dinner!!!!

[azil]

Who did you book the driver with for the Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius trip?

[wrennies]

This is the info:

www.carsorrento.it

Renato Cuomo

Limousine Service Sorrento - Italy

Mobile number: (0039) 3391612081 - Office: (0039) 0818023037 Fax. (0039) 06233208879

recuomo@tin.it

[jstin]

This is the one and only Disney excursion that we are doing. It was just perfect for our family. We love the water and boats. On our "usual" summer vacation it has become a tradition to spend a day in St. Augustine and sail on the Schooner Freedom. We love it!!! So this one was easy.

I have included the link to the Disney description of the tour.

http://disneycruise.disney.go.com/cruises-destinations/shore-excursions/valletta-malta/chartered-turkish-schooner/

I am excited to hear that your family enjoyed this since this is what our family has choosen to do.