First Med Cruise - Our excellent adventure!

[Señor DonDuck]

Rome... so beautiful. Loving all your pictures. Too funny about the last 2 people late to return.

And that has got to be the nicest McDonald's that I have ever seen.

[Adsmama]

I love your report!! Did you have a map of rome? How did you know where the buses were and which ones to take? Would you recommend us doing the ancient sites early and book the vatican later? Did you go to the vatican museum?

[Disneyfalcon]

Originally Posted by soxfan1495

Wonderful pictures. This is making me think about buying a new camera before we go on our cruise in two months.

I had been on the fence about visiting Sidi Bou Said, but after seeing your photos I am looking forward to it more. You seemed to enjoy being in a smaller group. This makes me wonder if perhaps going in a big group on a ship's tour makes it harder to appreciate the place.

Looking forward to seeing your report and photos of La Spezia, Corsica and Villefranche.

We did everything on our own. I am sure we missed some information that way, but it was very relaxed and we got to go at our own pace. Maybe it is better to see Sidi Bou Said at your own pace. I definitely enjoyed Rome at our own pace. A few times I had to pinch myself and say, "Oh my word, we are wandering the streets of ROME!!"

Originally Posted by smeecanada

No apologies needed. Enjoying your report immensely. Report on.

Thanks Smee!

Originally Posted by Señor DonDuck

Rome... so beautiful. Loving all your pictures. Too funny about the last 2 people late to return.

And that has got to be the nicest McDonald's that I have ever seen.

It was a gorgeous and ginormous McDonalds! I had to take a picture.

Originally Posted by Adsmama

I love your report!! Did you have a map of rome? How did you know where the buses were and which ones to take? Would you recommend us doing the ancient sites early and book the vatican later? Did you go to the vatican museum?

We did have a map of Rome. I believe we picked one up at the train station. If you look at most of my pictures, you'll see my Dad's white head in front of us with a map. I have a pretty good sense of direction, and I think I could have made it without him, but it was so nice just to follow him and not worry about anything but taking pictures.

There were two easy ways to get help. One was a newsstand, and one was a visitor information booth. We found one of those whenever we needed to. They told us which bus. Then, when we were on the bus and discussing which stop to get off, a friendly Italian usually jumped in to help us.

I heard from a few people who went to the colisseum first and vatican in the afternoon and it was still crowded. I don't think you can avoid crowds at either of those locations. I do recommend booking tickets in advance for those two because it saved us a lot of time waiting in line. We did walk though the museum which was very very large.

[travelbug24]

I too am enjoying your report. I will be following in your footsteps on our September cruise. Your report has made me anxious and excited for our cruise.

[lovesDCL]

Another great installment in your TR! LOVE all the pictures!!!

Can wait for more !!!

[Disneyfalcon]

Originally Posted by travelbug24

I too am enjoying your report. I will be following in your footsteps on our September cruise. Your report has made me anxious and excited for our cruise.

Yay! I'm glad I can help get you excited!

Originally Posted by lovesDCL

Another great installment in your TR! LOVE all the pictures!!!

Can wait for more !!!

Thank you lovesdcl!

[Disneyfalcon]

Friday, April 30th, Day 9 – Pisa

We started off the day with breakfast at Parrot Cay. A couple who sat down next to us told their waiter they’d missed their excursion - AGAIN!

Debbie and her dd wanted to go to Florence, and I really wanted to see the Leaning Tower, so we split up today. Florence was about 2 ½ hours from the port, so they played it safe and took a Disney excursion. When you're going that far from the ship, that's when the peace of mind is worth it to take an excursion.

We tendered in. You can see the tender boats next to the ship:



We walked to the train station and caught a train. We took a wrong turn on the way and walked through the beautiful town of La Spezia.









On the train we had a private car. I was, once again, very impressed with the trains in Italy. Dd stood on her chair to take this. You can see my hand on her waist in the mirror:



We ended up on the train with a ton of people from the cruise. When we got off, we all followed each other around looking for the correct bus. There were about 25 of us on the bus and when one person found out which stop, we passed it around!

The tower was great. Disney had some of their photographers stationed there to take passenger pictures. I'd seen some passenger pictures in front of the colisseum and other things earlier in the cruise. I just assumed that these were all taken on Disney excursions. I was excited to see them waiting for any passengers. We weren’t too hard to spot with our Castaway Club lanyards and dd’s DCL shirt. They took some great pictures.

We took the standard, hold up the Tower picture.

[Disneyfalcon]

Several times actually :lol::





Then we just walked around for a while:







After that we caught the bus back to the train station and rode back. When we got back in town, we decided to walk again. We tendered back:



We got back at 4 and dinner was at 6. In fine cruise tradition, we had a pre-dinner-dinner of chicken fingers and fries.

Our second dinner was in Lumiere’s for pirate night! The girls wore some fun outfits we bought in Tunisia:



Here's Brent:



The show was a magician who had some so so tricks, and a couple of amazing ones.

Afterwards we went up on deck for the pirate party and fireworks. It must have been too windy for Mickey to fly. We were way too stuffed for the buffet, so after a little partying we headed for bed.

[Disneyfalcon]

Saturday, May 1st, Day 10 – Sea Day!

This morning was our character breakfast. We’d been up so late the night before, Dd and I were the only ones who made it. It was yummy and the characters were great. Of course our servers made us lovely napkin hats.

[Disneyfalcon]

After breakfast I met Debbie for another cooking lesson. Today it was an entrée, and it was yummy! Apparently while we were in there, my parents were watching a pod of dolphins playing next to the ship.

After we learned about entrees, we stayed for a napkin folding class. That was awesome! I can make so many cute napkins now. At least I think I can!

Parrot Cay was having a steakhouse lunch. While we were eating, some of the servers called us to the windows. One of the dolphins had made another appearance.

After lunch we all went to see Alice and Wonderland in 3D. I’ll admit, from everything I’d seen, I was not very excited about it, and would not have paid to see it in the theaters. But wow! It was great! I was so pleasantly surprised. I’d definitely recommend it to people. I actually had to leave in the middle to go to a DIS meet! I watched the second half later in the week.

The meet was great fun. Yummy food - like we needed more, and friendly people. It's always fun to meet fellow Disney lovers.

We went swimming afterwards, surprise, surprise.

After we swam, I noticed Pluto’s was serving Philly cheese steaks. I couldn’t pass that up! So again, I had a pre-dinner-dinner. I was beginning to feel like a hobbit.

Tonight was semi formal night at Animators. We got all prettied up again:



We met some very spiffy ducks:

[Disneyfalcon]

The show afterwards was a new one, Villains Tonight. I had read some mixed reviews of it, but I really really liked it. Half the audience gave it a standing O!

Here's Hades:



Ursula:



Izma and Kronk, who was HILARIOUS:



Evil Queen:



After the show, the girls went swimming and we went to bed!

We had a sea turtle waiting for us:

[giftcard]

[QUOTE=Disneyfalcon;37013029]
After we swam, I noticed Pluto’s was serving Philly cheese steaks. I couldn’t pass that up! So again, I had a pre-dinner-dinner. I was beginning to feel like a hobbit.
[QUOTE]

Awesome!!!

[Angie_Ohio]

My family is taking the Med. cruise in June of 2011. I wanted to get a private tour of Rome but you hit all the sights we're interested in and in the same order, starting at the Vatican.
How much research did you do ahead of time for the train and tickets? I had heard it best to purchase tickets ahead of time.
Ohh only a year and 2 weeks to go!

[lovesDCL]

Yay! Another great update!

Love the pictures from Pisa!

[Disneyfalcon]

[QUOTE=giftcard;37013233][QUOTE=Disneyfalcon;37013029]
After we swam, I noticed Pluto’s was serving Philly cheese steaks. I couldn’t pass that up! So again, I had a pre-dinner-dinner. I was beginning to feel like a hobbit.

Awesome!!!

Originally Posted by Angie_Ohio

My family is taking the Med. cruise in June of 2011. I wanted to get a private tour of Rome but you hit all the sights we're interested in and in the same order, starting at the Vatican.
How much research did you do ahead of time for the train and tickets? I had heard it best to purchase tickets ahead of time.
Ohh only a year and 2 weeks to go!

We bought vatican tickets and colisseum tickets beforehand online, and I would do that again. We tried to buy train tickets, but couldn't with American credit cards. I am actually glad that that didn't work, because the Birg tickets were perfect. We bought them in the newstand in the train station in Civitavecchia. Super easy and great price!

Originally Posted by lovesDCL

Yay! Another great update!

Love the pictures from Pisa!

Thank you again!