Hi Everyone! Wow I had a lot of reading to catch up since returning from my Western Caribbean cruise on the Fantasy last weekend! I had a wonderful time—she is a beautiful ship, but almost “too” good. There was just so much to do that I felt like I was always missing out on something. I am really looking forward to being back on the Magic for this cruise and enjoying the smaller scale.
I see a lot of discussion has been going on regarding what everyone has booked on their own or what excursions they are planning. I have a lot of stuff booked already and mostly just logistics planning to do now as far as transportation and timing for some of the places we are doing on our own. Here is what we have so far:
Barcelona- we are arriving 2 full days pre-cruise. We are staying at Hotel Jazz which was recommended on one of the Med threads on here, and good ratings. First day, we are hitting the beach to relax and catch up to the time difference. That evening (Thursday) we booked a tasting tapas tour with Barcelona Taste, which was very highly rated on Trip Advisor. It is only a small group of 8, and they take you to 4-5 local, authentic places to eat tapas and drink wine. I am a total foodie so this was right up my alley. According the reviews they also give you directions to return to the places at your own leisure for full meals or recommend other places as well, so it is great we are doing this our 1st night and can pick out some reputable restaurants for our 2nd day in the city. If anyone wants to join us for this tour, there are 6 spots left and we’d love to meet up with some of you! On Friday, we have booked a Vespa (
scooter) rental to tour the city. It has pre-programmed GPS tours of the city, 4 to choose from, so we can see the sights in style! I am really excited for this one.
Villefranche- we are doing this port on our own. We will take the train to Monaco first for a short visit and then take the train back to Nice for a relaxing beach day. I have been here before and absolutely love it.
La Spezia- this is my birthday! I have been to Florence and Pisa before so we are doing Cinque Terre on our own. I can’t think of a better way to spend my bday than a day visiting 5 Italian villages and enjoying great food, wine, and a dip in the beautiful ocean! Plus I plan to book Palo for my birthday dinner : )
Civitavecchia- this is our most expensive private excursion by far, but will be worth it. We booked a private car and guide to take us into the city where we’ll be touring the Colosseum, Vatican, and many other sites in between plus a leisurely Italian lunch and stops for gelato. I have been to Rome before and their public transportation system is not nearly as developed or efficient as other cities. It is doable on your own but since this is my dad’s first visit and we only have 1 day, we wanted the ease and luxury of a private trip, hence why this one is our splurge. The distance from the port alone makes it worthwhile.
Piraeus- we have another private tour booked into Athens. We’ll be visiting all of the main historical sites plus time in the Plaka district for shopping and traditional Greek food.
Kusadasi- we have another private tour booked for the main sites at Ephesus and then lunch and shopping at Sirince Village for some local food/wine. On the way back we’ll get dropped off at the beach in Kusadasi for a few hours and then we can walk back to the ship from there.
Mykonos- thanks to someone on here, sorry I can’t remember who?! We are going to book the St. John’s resort for the day. It seems like a total steal for only 30 euros/pp to get roundtrip transportation and have a beautiful resort and private beach for the day. we were going to do one of the public beaches on our own but we are so grateful we got this tip to do St. John’s instead!
Valletta- thanks to Heather’s tip, we booked the 10:30 tour at Playmobil Factory which I am super excited about. Sounds like a really unique experience. After that 1 hour tour, we are going to head back to Valletta and possibly a local beach, or maybe just stroll through the town, not sure yet.
Paris (Post-Cruise)- we are doing 4 more nights here at
Disneyland Paris, which I’m super excited for. This will be my 3rd visit to Paris and I am finally getting to DLP. We are staying at Disney’s Hotel New York. We are planning to spend 1 full day in Paris itself, we have booked a ½ day tour with Left Bank Scooters, highly rated on Trip Advisor for a fun way to tour the city. There are only 1 or 2 scooters max per tour. After the tour we’ll do a trip down the Seine and ascend the Eiffel Tower. Love Paris!
Love hearing about everyone else’s plans too! Can’t believe we are less than 6 months away!!
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