We're back!
We had such an awesome time!
The weather was perfect: every day sunny and around 85. I'm not planning to do a full TR but just some highlights.
Our non stop flight on USAirways was fine. For transatlantic flights, each seatback has a touchscreen with movies, games, music, etc. I wish they offered it on all their planes.
We used Barcelona Day Tours for our transfers from & returning to BCN. Both times were fine & no complaints though he was around 10 mins late for our post cruise pick up.
We stayed at Hispanos 7 Suiza Hotel. It wasn't luxurious but very nice & the staff was super nice. It has 2 BR & 2 baths & a small kitchen & living room. The only TV channel in English was Al Jazeera, aka: "The Unrest in Egypt" channel. There was no coffeemaker; just an espresso maker. I was ready with some tea I brought from home for my morning wake up caffeine.
The condo had a washer/dryer but it was all one unit that washed & dried. I did a test run and it took like 3 hours! Also the dryer settings were something like 1000, 1500, etc. Is that watts? Who knows but I wasn't going to take a chance on ruining our clothes so I waited to do laundry on the ship.
The hotel is only 1.5 blocks to Sagrada Familia. Plenty of places to eat & get cash from ATMs. We walked around the area a bit on the day of our arrival til we were just so sleepy we couldn't take anymore.
The hotel's restaurant, the Cupola, was closed for the month of August so that was a bummer. Also it seems no one eats breakfast in Spain or if they do, the food is no different than lunch/dinner.
The next day we took a 4 hr tour with Barcelona Day Tours. Our driver was prompt, courteous & van was clean & modern. No complaints. At the end he dropped us off on Las Ramblas where there is a large square 1 block over with lots of restaurants. We walked down to the Christopher Columbus monument (too dark for pics by then) and hopped a taxi to the Magic Fountain. It was ok but not really "all that". Some TA reviewers said it was the highlight of their visit to Barcelona. I can't agree there. Perhaps they've never been to WDW.
Perhaps I'm just spoiled by Disney that it takes a lot to make me say wow! and feel impressed.
We took the hotel's shuttle to the port for 55E for 6 of us in a van. He had a portable cc swiper so that was nice. Every ATM charged a small fee so I wanted to save my Euros for things we definitely had to pay cash for.
Boy were we happy to see the Magic!
Barcelona was ok but we were ready to move on. We stayed in cabins 7620 & 7621. No issues that I just read about in previous posts. Plenty of Disney cups & diet Coke. No flooding/plumbing issues either. Just the usual annoying shower curtain. Our teens love having their own cabin with real beds that separate (yes I know this will end!) and their own TV, closet etc. We love it too.
I was surprised to see that there were so few Americans onboard. Reading on here I felt like I was the only one who's never done a Med cruise but I'd say it was only around 15% American, mostly guests from Spain. Ds13 met a boy in Edge from South Africa and we saw luggage outside a cabin with large print all over one side with their address in Kuwait. People really travel a long way to sail
DCL. All announcements on PA system were in both English & Spanish, as well as pre/post show announcements in the WD Theater.
BTW, all perishable food items, such as milk cartons, seemed to come from Europe so when I ordered a Mickey bar in the MDR I was told that they are in FL & DCL didn't/couldn't bring them on Med cruises. (I don't recall if I had any on Alaskan sailing but I guess wouldn't be too hard to ship by truck from DL to Seattle.) The maple syrup was some concoction but nothing like real maple syrup from Canada.
So for our Villefranche day, we booked through DCL to burn up some OBCs. We did the Nice & Monaco tour. It was fine & our guide was nice & informative but it's not easy moving a busload of people place to place. Also there were several very young children & babies who cried/screeched half the time. Believe me, I'm a mom & not at all anti-child, but a 9 hr tour is way too long to expect kids to keep going. This isn't Disney World; I was worried that ds13 would be bored. These kids were like 2 & 5. I don't blame the kids; it's the parents that are nuts. They should either find something to do that is fun for kids or at the very least, just keep it to a short tour. My parents did the train tour of Nice that was 4 hrs total so I know they do exist. Anyway, we were really looking forward to our private tours in Italy.
We booked all 3 Italian ports with Rome in Limo. They were great & I would highly recommend them.
For La Spezia, we had Elisabetta for a driver. We loved her enthusiasm! First we went to Pisa, took some pics them climbed the tower. I was able to buy tickets on site at 9:30 for a 9:45 climb time.
The views were great but dh was disappointed that there is such a high fence around the top. (We later heard, from our Rome driver I think, that on more than one occasion, people would jump from there to commit suicide.
After that we moved on to Florence. She dropped us off in front of the cathedral (Duomo) with an hour there. By the time we used the public restrooms (long line) and ate some pizza that killed a lot of our time there. We shopped a little & moved on. We got up close to Ponte Vecchio where we could get good pics of it and also the Galileo Museum. Then moved on to the Accademia and the gorgeous statue of David. We had reserved tickets but couldn't prepay. Our guide got us discounts for our teen sons & whisked us past the lines. This was a good part of our afternoon. We then moved on to the Church of Santa Croce which holds tombs of Michelangelo, Galileo, Machiavelli & others. The line to enter was long & we didn't have much time. (We didn't even look into buying advance tickets.) We had some gelati & took pics outside.
Then moved on to the area that overlooks all of Florence from up high. I forget what area this is called but the view is just stunning. I can't wait to download my pics!
Next day for Civitavecchia we did the Rome Highlights tour with our driver Nick. We got out of the van to see Fountain of Trevi, the Pantheon, & Vittorio Emanuele building. We went inside the Coliseum and now looking back I wish we hired a separate guide for that too. We did "drive by" looking at the Spanish Steps, Roman Forum & Circus Maximus. We did have a separate guide for the Vatican. Her name was Nicole and she was awesome. She has degrees in Art & Archeology. Much of her time in school was spent studying in the Vatican so it feels like home away from home to her. We saw the Sistine Chapel & St. Peter's Basilica. Still just as jaw-dropping amazing the 2nd time around. Sad to see the plastic shield in front of La Pieta which was not there my previous visit.
We never got to Piazza Navona which I was really looking forward to. Had I known it would turn out that way, I would have simply done a 'drive by' for the Vittorio Emanuele building. I was the only one in our group that had been to Italy before (did a 14 nt Perillo tour) so they don't miss what they never knew but I did.
For Naples, our driver Giovanni was especially kind. He really hit it off with my dad & they quickly became buddies. My great grandmother is from just outside Naples and though she never spoke English, my dad grew up learning some Italian from her. Funny thing though in Florence & Rome they couldn't understand him & we all laughed that he was just rambling but Giovanni understood him & responded, etc. It was so nice for my dad. Like he found home.
More than once, Giovanni invited my dad to come stay at his house in Sorrento & go fishing with him off the Amalfi coast.
At the end he gave my parents a bottle of limoncello.
We rode along the Amalfi coast, visited Positano for about 1.5 hrs then some time in Sorrento to shop & have lunch. I wish I wrote down the name of the place we had lunch but it was excellent, nice table service. mmmm....
Then onto Pompeii. By then it was hot & my parents were exhausted from so much walking in the heat and being our 4th day of touring. So we saw the highlights of Pompeii, then back to the ship.
I had been stressing about our 10:45am return flight but worried for no reason. In fact, I called GS the last night asking if we should carry off our own luggage & they assured me all luggage will be in the terminal by 6:30am and guests could debark by 7. Our BDT transfer was due to arrive at 7:30. We were there by 7:18 and getting really stressed by 7:35. It was a bit annoying to stand there watching DCL buses leaving for BCN when we were told that they wouldn't offer transfers for guests with flights before 11.
Anyway, our driver came 10 mins late but it was all fine.
That is until it became my lucky day & I was chosen for a random extra security search. I was told when we checked our bags that I should ask at the gate at 9:30 to see a security guard. I did and was told they would page my name which they did, along with around 8 others. We were all led together to another area where they collected all of our passports & boarding passes. We each got a full pat down, another xray of our carry on bags, and visual inspection of all contents. We then had to wait again while a higher officer did some call in type of check on our passports. (You'd think they'd have this on computer.) They held all passports until they finished calling in everyone's. Then even after passing them out, we couldn't leave. Another guard had to walk us back to our gate.
By now I'm just about running cuz it's been an hour at least & I have dh's & kids' passports in my bag & boarding had begun long ago. I was scolded by the guard for getting ahead of him & he stopped the whole group until the last person caught up.
So I finally get to the gate & it's just as well that I'm holding all the passports cuz at least I see dh & kids with the gate agent where I was told, "Don't worry, we're holding the plane for all of you."
We could have used those comforting words while we were being detained & all of us sweating bullets that we would miss our flight. By the time I sat down I just broke into tears. What should have been a nice relaxing time at the gate, maybe get some extra waters for our flight & unwind from the stress of getting picked up late, getting bags checked, getting through security, & finally be able to chill out knowing there's nothing else I have to do & no where else to rush to, then I have all of this & running to an empty gate with just my frazzled family there.
Ugh! What a crappy way for an awesome trip to end. Oh well....
Still not as bad as for my parents. Their debit/Visa card was eaten by a machine in Barcelona & though they called back to the US to tell them what happened & was reassured that the card would be disabled, somehow someone was able to use the card to make 2 purchases: first $70-something and 2nd over $600. My parents spent a good part of today at their bank trying to get it all straightened out & their bank assured them that they would be credited for the fraudulent charges but still, for now, it's cash out of their checking account. What else can you do but go with the flow? Stuff happens.
Overall, it was still an excellent trip & so glad we did it.
I can't imagine an even longer cruise with
more port days. It's too bad they don't offer longer cruises but with same ports. Let's say an overnight with 2 full days in Florence & also for Rome. That would be perfect. Heck, I'd even spring for a hotel instead of riding back & forth an hour each way to the ship.
For now it's back to reality; back to work tomorrow.
Thanks to everyone for all of the advice I got here & for answering my million questions.
I tend to ramble & my writing has no humor. 
