Our Magical Mediterranean Adventure 8-18th June 2011 *Completed*

[janey2000]

We had to be off ship early today to make a 9am ferry so I had Mickey call to wake us for 7am but Georgia beat him to it! We had a huge breakfast at topsiders and took a few snacks to last us the day.

Guess who we ran into in Italy!

The hydrofoil terminal was just next to the cruise port and I managed to find the ticket office for the 9am trip to Sorrento. I had read the horror stories about Naples and so had put the money for the tickets into my bra, the cashier seemed very impressed with this!!! The hydrofoil was quick and easy but due to a bit of a misty start to the day and the fact that we sat downstairs as we had the pushchair, we didn’t get any stunning views of the Almalfi coastline.

On arrival in Sorrento we were faced with an uphill walk of hundreds of steps. Georgia and I walked up hand in hand whilst Jack carried the pushchair, it was exhausting.

The little town was pretty and we wandered around to find a lemon grove I had read about. It was a beautiful little place and a lady had a stall set up in the middle allowing us to taste the Limoncello and other varieties of alcohol they had for sale. We purchased some lemon marmalade and got some photos of the sizes of the lemons.

We the walked to find a coffee shop for our first real Italian coffee experience. We found the nicest looking place that had a gold sofa inside that Georgia set up camp on with her bus, make up and chocolate milk. The coffee was disappointing. Jack asked for a latte and got an espresso with a glass of soda water! I got the cappuccino I asked for but it must have had 10 sugars in it and was far too sweet. I was missing Costa and Starbucks by this point!

Chocolate milk

The gold sofa

My Cappuccino
http://i1200.photobucket.com/albums/bb333/janey2000/Disney June 2011/DSCF0849.jpg
A latte?

Jack alone with the camera for 5 minutes when I went to the toilet, we have the Italians idea of safe transport for children and an inappropriate shop sign!

We then took the train to Pompeii which was about a 50 minute ride.

Now nowhere in all my research did I read not to take a pushchair to Pompeii. It was the most exhausting 3 hour experience of trying to push a sleeping toddler over cobble streets in a swivel wheel pushchair! When she awoke it was much easier as she got out and walked but I didn’t get to see much as just sent Jack off with the camera.

 

[janey2000]

This is a dog

Georgia decided she wanted to find a stone to take home for Granddad... I really hope there aren't any archeologists looking for this one!

The brothel was interesting but the beds seemed far too small to accommodate some of the positions in the paintings?!!!

 

[janey2000]

We took the hour long train journey back to Naples and decided to walk back to the cruise ship. I think Jack envisaged a romantic stroll along the promenade but the reality was litter filled streets, tramps sleeping amounts the rubbish and not even a view of the sea until we reached the ship! The walk must have taken an hour and Naples really is an awful place but I was pleased with the calories burnt today so I could really enjoy dinner after only having a few light snacks during the day. And walking back to the ship, look who came to greet us!

Tonight was our show dinner in Lumiers. This was my favourite restaurant, the deco was beautiful and it always seemed to have the nicest food. Belle and the beast did a little dance round the restaurant for us! It was hard to get a decent photo though as they were moving.

Enchanted rose light fittings

I tried seabass for the first time, it was wonderful

And escargot... it was in a garlic butter, very rich but I loved it!

3 puddings in 1 ... well didn't I already say, I was on holiday!

There was no show tonight, instead they had the new Pirates movie showing at the Walt Disney theatre. We couldn’t go due to Georgia so instead went to watch the Princess and the Frog movie in the empty Buena Vista theatre. We hadn’t seen this before but Georgia managed to keep her concentration on it for a good hour. Then by the end she started to say her head hurt which panicked me into thinking we could have another sickness episode so we left Jack to watch the end and went in search of Daisy. I was so upset I had left the camera with Jack as this was the first time she met Daisy.

Italian Goofy

Italian Mickey

Georgia and Maisie with Pluto

Sailing away from Naples

 

[pxlbarrel]

Wow, now I wish we had done Pompeii on our own.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

How long would you say you needed at Pompeii to get a glimpse of it? We plan to go (first thing in the morning) to Capri, have lunch on Capri then head to Sorrento to take the train to Pompeii then obviously back to Naples from there. I don't care if we only have a couple of hours at Pompeii but do you think that will be enough time to get nice feel for it?

My plan is to always be back on the ship for our early dinner seating time...roughly Thanks!

 

[janey2000]

When you get the map for Pompeii they give a suggestion of routes, one is for 2 hours and the other is for a full day. We roughly did the 2 hour one and for me it was plenty. To me, one old house is the same as another and with your little ones it will definatly be enough for them. And remember... Don't take a pushchair!

There is no way you will get to Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii in a day. We took the very first hydrofoil of the day and got back on ship at 5.30 (early seating also). We only got the 2 hours at Pompeii and 2 hours in Sorrento. My suggestion would be to drop one of them, either do Sorrento and Pompeii or Capri and Sorrento. I was chatting the following day to a guy in the pool who had 2 little ones. They said they did Capri and have decided they will definatly return to spend more time there.

 

[bibbidibobbidibecky]

When you get the map for Pompeii they give a suggestion of routes, one is for 2 hours and the other is for a full day. We roughly did the 2 hour one and for me it was plenty. To me, one old house is the same as another and with your little ones it will definatly be enough for them. And remember... Don't take a pushchair!

There is no way you will get to Capri, Sorrento and Pompeii in a day. We took the very first hydrofoil of the day and got back on ship at 5.30 (early seating also). We only got the 2 hours at Pompeii and 2 hours in Sorrento. My suggestion would be to drop one of them, either do Sorrento and Pompeii or Capri and Sorrento. I was chatting the following day to a guy in the pool who had 2 little ones. They said they did Capri and have decided they will definatly return to spend more time there.

Thanks for the info. We aren't planning to spend any time in Sorrento, it's just closer to Capri so looking at a map it seemed to make sense to go there to grab the train instead of back to Naples...it looked like it could save us up to a half hour or so. My husband and I have been to Capri before and really wanted to show the kids (we spent a good part of our honeymoon there) but none of us have been to Pompeii and want to at least see the highlights.

I read not to bring a stroller there and don't plan to bring it that day even though I know my girls will be dragging by time we are done.

So if we are just doing Capri and Pompeii, do you think we'll be fine? Thanks again.

 

[mamaboogie]

I've really enjoyed reading your report. Your photos are wonderful!

 

[janey2000]

Thanks for the info. We aren't planning to spend any time in Sorrento, it's just closer to Capri so looking at a map it seemed to make sense to go there to grab the train instead of back to Naples...it looked like it could save us up to a half hour or so. My husband and I have been to Capri before and really wanted to show the kids (we spent a good part of our honeymoon there) but none of us have been to Pompeii and want to at least see the highlights.

I read not to bring a stroller there and don't plan to bring it that day even though I know my girls will be dragging by time we are done.

So if we are just doing Capri and Pompeii, do you think we'll be fine? Thanks again.

Oh I see. I'm not sure how long it takes to get to Capri etc but expect you'll have enough time. When you get off the ferry in Sorrento there is a lot of steps to climb (as per the photo!) and then a short walk of about 5 minutes to the station. There may be a bus or something that would take you up the hill though.

I think 2 hours at Pompeii is fine to see the major things. We managed it and spent half the time trying to push the pushchair over the cobbled stones! Also if you wanted to they have tour guides at the entrance who do an hour tour for something like 10 Euro a person. This would save time having to figure out the route or what you are looking at.

Have fun!

 

[janey2000]

Today was one of my favourite days! We didn’t go into Rome for 2 reasons. Mainly because we did a 3 day visit about 5 years ago and saw everything and secondly because it would be a really long day with Georgia. My only worry was that we would need to throw another coin into the Trevi fountain, I wasn’t sure if Civitavecchia counted as a return to Rome?!

I'm posting a few photos of rome just to re-live the memories...
The Coliseum

Trevi fountain

Crowded Spanish steps

The Vatican

And who should be there to greet us...

...Yes it was the Pope!

So everyone got off the ship early and we had it all to ourselves! We decided to have a fancy breakfast and went to Lumiers to order off a menu. Again Jack felt he was missing out as he couldn’t have the pastries pilled high with cream! I think my breakfast was called the beast’s tower which consisted of stacked French toast (I couldn’t get enough of the stuff!) with some grilled pineapple layered between it and strawberry compote on the side. It was divine! Georgia had rice crispies and then Mickey pancakes washed down with chocolate milk! We also found the English breakfast tea in the restaurants to be much nicer than Topsiders. It was a really nice breakfast with peaceful surroundings and we got the chance to chat to some of the waiting staff as we were one of only about 3 tables in there. It was pretty amazing to hear that they never get a day off and work an average 90 hour week. But more amazing to me was the amount of staff I spoke to who had young children of Georgia’s age at home living with grandparents etc whilst they were working away for most months of the year. I worked out that with the amount of tips they receive alone it is more than I earn but still it pulled my heart strings at the thought of having to miss out on my little girl growing up.

Like butter wouldn't melt at breakfast!

 

[janey2000]

After breakfast we went to find the running track and had a game of shuffle board before heading to the pools. Again the weather was lovely and the pools were very quiet. At lunch we got pizza and other naughty treats and sat by the Goofy pool watching Cinderella 3. They had a special ice cream today, blueberry, it was so good I had 2 tubs!

Learning the rules of Shuffleboard

Not sure if I was surprised or just rubbing water from my face?

About 2pm we went to the running track where Jack did several laps power walking pushing the pushchair whilst Georgia napped. I relaxed on a lounger (who needs exercise on holiday?!) painted my nails and filled out the future cruise enquiry form just to see what was on offer.

A passing ferry

When she woke she wanted to swim again so we had a quick dip before I showered her ready for Huey, Dewey and Louie games in the club at 4.30. I then had an hour free time which I used to shower and get ready for the evening and arrange my FE gifts to distribute. When I collected Georgia she was happily playing around but wasn’t joining in with the main activity as she must have lost concentration. We waited to see if Donald would come but he was too busy it seemed.

The club

I then thought we’d have another mother and daughter bonding session distributing the gifts but G must have had other ideas. It seemed simple to walk the ship as we only had 5 staterooms to deliver to but in reality it was a nightmare! Some of the areas I thought would be accessible to walk through were not so you ended up having to go up or down a level to walk mid ship etc. Georgia complained the whole time that her feet were hurting and that she wanted dinner!

Tonight was our Animator’s Palate show where the room and waiting staff change from being black and white to colourful. This wasn’t as amazing as we thought it would be but still pretty cool!

Look who popped in

My dessert

The show was a shorter one this evening called ‘Once upon a song’ and consisted of Disney songs being sung. The staff are very talented but for Georgia it was a bit boring as there was only really the singing going on.

 

[janey2000]

 

[janey2000]

As it was so empty inside today I took some photos of the ship and the hidden Mickeys....

 

[silverangel879]

Joining the fun!

 

[heatherbelle]

subscribing, thanks for posting.

 

[heatherbelle]

an absolute bargain! I still don’t know how I managed to find such a good deal. We paid £42 for a triple room with kitchenette and breakfast! The kitchenette meant I could cook a quick and pasta meal as Georgia was ready for dinner when we arrived.

Hi Can you remember the name of the hotel and who you booked it through. I currently have a hotel booked and it costs another 100 Euros on top without breakfast.

 

[janey2000]

Heatherbelle,
The info you need is on post 19, top of page 2.
x

 

[heatherbelle]

Thanks, I skipped that page, as we're not going to Sicily on our cruise, typical that it contained the info I needed. Thanks

 

[janey2000]

This was one of my favourite port days. The original plan had been to go to Pisa but it was a long train ride just to see a tower and take a photo. We couldn’t have climbed the tower due to Georgia’s age… and Jack’s fear of heights! And there isn’t anything else in Pisa but the tower I don’t believe.
So instead we went to visit Cinque Terre, the 5 little towns along the coast. We actually only managed 3 of them but picked the better ones, it was amazing!

After yesterdays fancy breakfast we choose to eat at Parrot Cay this morning as it was a nicer setting, less crowded and had the nicer tea bags! We left the ship about 8.45 but the tender took a good 30 minutes. The walk to the station was an easy one (we walked right past a tourist info desk that gave us maps) but again took a good 20 minutes.

At the train station there is a specific Cinque Terre office where we purchased a one day travel pass for use on all the trains between the towns and for the walks. There were some other benefits of this pass that we weren’t able to use such as bicycle hire, use on the bus, discount off certain gifts etc. It was 10 euro per adult.

We took the 10am train to the furthest town Monterosso which took about 17 minutes I think. It was another scorching hot day and we arrived in the beautiful little town that had a beach.

This was a great place for Georgia as they had a play park scattered along the promenade.

Georgia and Daddy had a walk along the rocks and saw a crab.

We then had our next Italian coffee fix, a cappuccino. I’d read that Monterosso was the highest priced of the towns but the coffee was 2 Euro each, exactly the same as we had been paying everywhere else.

 

[janey2000]

The next train was about 1200 so we made our way to Manarola. From here we took some photos from the walkway along the cliff side and Georgia fell asleep in her pushchair.

There were some lovely little shops and eating places in this town but it was much smaller in comparison to Monterosso.

We then walked the Via Del Amore (Lovers path) which was a 15 min gentle stroll and perfectly accessible for pushchair/wheelchair users. Along the way we saw the various locks that lover’s had literally risked their lives to place in the most inaccessible spots! We hadn’t brought a lock or a pen so I took photos of others writings that matched our names!

This was so cute, she’ll find out in years to come that It wasn’t written for her!

Jack’s real name is Andrew… and I couldn’t find J + J!!!