2011 Disney Magic Med Cruise 5/28/11 - 6/8/11

[RaglanRoad]

I recently started writing a blog and decided to put together a trip report from my Disney Med Cruise last year. I have included the transportation days also so it actually starts before the cruise date I listed in the title.

I will start by saying I have cruised Disney before but had never been to Europe. That said this would be something old and familiar (Disney Magic) and something new and exciting (Europe).

I will not copy and paste the whole trip report here but I will update here as I add on each day on my blog. The blog also makes it easier because I will be able to add a whole lot of more pictures.

You can find my trip report at www.dis-n-that.com.

My Day 1 of the trip report is up and includes the transportation, flight and precruise hotel stay at the Diagonal Mar Hilton.

Here are a few pictures.

The Disney Magic docked as taken from the highway to our hotel

Photo of the ocean from our hotel room window in Barcelona.

This photo shows the Mall that is across the street from the hotel. The hotel we stayed at was a Disney sponsored hotel which included all transportation.

I hope you enjoy and I will add parts to the post as I add to the blog.

Overall it was a great cruise and I would recommend it to anyone!

 

[RaglanRoad]

I just added Days 2 & 3 which include embarkation and the first sea day of the cruise. I didnt have a lot of pictures for these two days but my trip report is included.
I also just added Day 4 which was the Port of Valletta, Malta. This was probably one of my favorite ports. The scenery is just so different with all the sand colored buildings. We took a Disney sponsored tour called Island Panoramic which took us around Malta to see some of the highlights. Stops include Blue Grotto, fishing village of Marsaxlokk and the cliffs of Dingli. Overall this port is definetly an A+ in my book and I am glad this was the first port since it was just a great start to the cruise. I have many pictures on my blog trip report www.dis-n-that.com but I will post a couple of the highlights here.

First picture below was taken from our veranda as the Magic sailed into the port.

This next picture is of a Luzzu fishing boat taken in the fishing village of Marsaxlokk.

Next is the magnificent view of the terraced cliffs of Dingli.

Last picture was taken from aboard the Magic looking out of a porthole with the port shops and cafes of Valletta in the background.

 

[RaglanRoad]

I've just posted another port on my blog and this one was of Palermo, Sicily.


Palermo was not an original port for this cruise but was a replacement port for Tunisia due to the political unrest in that country.

We took a morning tour called "Sights of Palermo". It was a bus tour but in fact most of it was a walking tour. We enjoyed the tour itself as far as all the sights we visited and knowledge of our guide. The one thing we disliked about this tour was that since it was mostly walking we were unable to hear our tour guide much. There were no headsets and earbuds like some other tours. This was the only negative.

We were able to see some fabulous statues along the tour.

We went in several churches/chapel/cathedral's. It was very moving and interesting as far as all the history of religious sites built upon one another.

This photo below was taken from the Magic looking at the city of Palermo. As you can see you are very close to the city at this port. If were going to do it again we would probably take a tour out of the city and do the city portion ourselves.

A big tip here is to get the Gelato! It was a scrumptious treat!

I do admit that I liked the previous port of Malta better but Palermo was a nice introduction to the history and hustle of Italy.

 

[wishiwasindisneyjen]

Loving your report, its getting me excited for our Med cruise in June. Can't wait for more!

 

[RaglanRoad]

Loving your report, its getting me excited for our Med cruise in June. Can't wait for more!

Thank you so much. I hope you have fun on your cruise. There is so much to see in the Med

 

[RaglanRoad]

My next blog post is up for the port stop of Naples.

The Naples port was one I was most looking forward to. We had planned to take a tour to Pompeii and this was the one tour I most looked forward too.

From the ship we could see Mount Vesuvius looming in the distance.

This was the one bad weather day of the whole cruise. From the moment our tour arrived at Pompeii it started raining. We were lucky because we brought disposable ponchos with but others were just stuck getting soaked on the walking tour.

Pompeii was amazing and even with the rain falling it was all, and more, of what I was expecting. There were a few tours there at the same time but because of the rain I think it kept a few extra people away so it didnt seem crowded.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of an empty street Pompeii

This is one of the more surreal sites. The casts left of a body that was encased in ash and discovered from the ash mold it left.

We enjoyed our tour and Naples. Dont forget to get yourself a piece of Pizza while in Naples!!!

 

[RaglanRoad]

Just updated my blog to include an entry for Civitavecchia.
The blog has many more pictures and details than I can post here. www.dis-n-that.com


We had a Disney sponsored tour for this port, our tour was "Jumping Back into Eternal Rome". This was a long day with the tour being close 12 hours long but we did not have a long bus ride to Rome because the tour included a private train ride on the Roma Express.

All the major sites were hit in the limited time we had include St. Peters Basilica.

We had some bus transportation but we also had a lot of walking.
Trevi Fountain was another stop on this tour.

We walked on and went to the Pantheon. All these sites, including what we saw as we were walking, were very impressive. So much history and just a visual overload.

Piazza Navonaa was a short walk away. Can you spot Captain Jack???!!!

Our lunch stop was included in the tour and it was a delicious mix of appetizers and lasagna with Italian wine on the table. Here is a mouthwater picture of the table.

After lunch we were headed to the centerpiece of Rome which is the great Coliseum.

We enjoyed the tour and thought it was worth the money. The guide was very good and we didnt feel overly rushed at any of the locations.

 

[debsters41]

Hello! I have just found your trip report and I love it! I am going over to read your blog now. Thanks for writing it up, it is helping me get ready for next year when I will be on a 7 night in the Med.

 

[RaglanRoad]

My next blog post is up and its on our port stop of La Spezia, Italy. www.dis-n-that.com

La Spezia was a tender port and it was one of the hardest ports to decide where to tour. We chose to go on a tour to Pisa.

Our bus ride was just over an hour long and it was very scenic as you travel through the countryside of Tuscany.
Once in Pisa we stop at the large tour bus parking area then walk to Piazza dei Miracoli.

There are 4 places to see in this walled Piazza - Duomo, Baptistery, Campo Santo and the show piece which is the leaning tower of Pisa (Bell Tower).

On a side note, there are some very nice restrooms located here but they cost a modest .30 Euro. Nice restrooms are hard to come by so I thought mentioning when we found a nice one was worth it!

Here is a picture of where you can see all of the buildings.

We went in each of the places except we did not climb the tower. The Cathedral (Duomo) was very pretty and very large. There is such great history in everything we went to.

The Baptistery was a favorite. It was much more sparce inside than the Duomo.

The tower was imposing and it was amazing to see it leaning. It appeared it would fall over at any minute.

We enjoyed the tour and the local guide was great. There is some shopping and cafe's located around the Piazza.

The scenery in the Tuscany area was amazing. The hills were white and it was not from snow, its actually the white of the marble quarries.

One of my favorite pictures of the day was just of the countryside.

Once back on the ship it was also the Pirate party, since it isnt in the Caribbean it must be called Pirates in the Med!
We enjoyed the fireworks and were prepared for our next port of call which was the next morning.

I have more on my blog including many more additional pictures.

 

[RaglanRoad]

Ive been on a roll and just posted on my blog the next port of call which was Ajaccio, Corsica. www.dis-n-that.com

We did not have a Disney sponsored tour today or a tour of any kind. We were able to just wander around the city and stop where we wanted. This was a nice break from being on the go the way we have been in the other ports.

Once we were off the ship they have a very nice farmers market very close. There were many locally made items here and different foods.

There are many things to see and do within walking distance of the ship. Ajaccio is the birthplace of Napoleon Boneparte so you will see his name all over.
A very nice beach is available not too far from the ship where you can swim. It is just a short walk.

There was a nice sized storm that passed by close to departure. This picture shows the sun beams bursting through the cloudy skies as we departed the island.

This was an enjoyable port stop with enough things to do close to the boat in the short amount of time we had here.

 

[debsters41]

Wonderful updates! Thanks for sharing!

 

[RaglanRoad]

Wonderful updates! Thanks for sharing!

Thank you for reading my report. It has been fun reliving all the memories.

 

[RaglanRoad]

I just finished my next entry on my blog for the next port stop.
www.dis-n-that.com


Day 11 of the cruise and time for our last port - Villefranche, France. From here you have many choices to make on where to spend your day. Close to the port is Monaco, Eze and Nice. We decided to do a short all inclusive tour and hit all 3.

When we pulled into port we knew were in for a visionary treat today. The view from our veranda was amazing.

After a quick breakfast we met our tour and we took the tender into the port. Once in port we were on the bus and taking in the amazing sites.
We had a great view of the Magic as we drove up the windy mountainside road.

First place we hit was Monaco. The Monaco Grand Prix was the previous weekend so we were able to see all the grandstands and drive along the course as we made our way through the streets.

We were taken up the side of the hills to have a better view. The pictures of Monaco were amazing from the photo stop location.

Our next stop was in Eze where we were given a drink and a traditional local dish of Socca. We didnt get to visit inside the Eze Village but we were able to take some pictures.

Next stop would be a picture stop over looking Nice. Once again the views were amazing and you cant really describe how beautiful it was.

We returned from the bus tour and spent some time walking around the charming area of the port.

There was once again so many choices for tours and we took the one that had an overview of basically all the highlights.

The weather was perfect and the views were priceless.

 

[RaglanRoad]

I just finished up the Med cruise on my blog and in fact I already started more on the blog. I forgot to update here.

thank you for reading!

 

[debsters41]

I enjoyed reading your report Thanks for sharing!

 

[cforsythe]

Great report!