We are home!
Arrived home last evening around 6:30 pm cst via Chicago's O'Hare Airport. All in all it was not a bad trip home. Just very long and exhausting.
I would highly recommend SWISS airlines for those considering travel to Europe. They were very efficient and pleasant to fly with. The food was palatable with two meals and also snacks being served on the transatlantic flight via Zurich. We also had the beverage cart more times than one could count. But the biggest plus of all for them is that our 8 pieces of checked luggage made it back and forth with no problems at all!
Here are a couple of snippets from the trip as my overtired memory can recall, lol.
Do NOT try to shop in the ship's stores on the afternoon of Pirate Night. The crowd was unbelievable and all were in line with pirate gear for the evening attire.
Do visit the Quiet Cove coffee shop and have Arul mix you up a Mochachino! The best one I think I have had!
When you are on Disney Excursions, DO look for the Disney photographers at the various stops during the day.. We have lovely photos of us all at Pompeii, Rome and Monaco with some hunky gladiators joining the pix in Rome, lol. You can quick jump over from your excursion and strike a pose then resume touring without skipping a beat. Great idea
DCL!
The travel size toilet paper came in handy for us a few times at least. Try to keep some of this in your purse or backpack as it may be a lifesaver!
When in Barcelona, we picked up some bottled waters to bring to the ship with us at a small market on Las Ramblas. We also purchased the water package on the ship, but could have made do with the waters we brought supplemented with single purchases during the day. The waters in Barcelona were .22 Euro or about 30 cents US. Phenomenal!
Be forwarned that the ship's self service laundry room is nothing short of a nightmare on this 10 day cruise. I think many are supplementing the trip with stays before and after, hence lots of clothes to be washed. One guy told me he went down at 3 am and it was crowded!
My tips are, bring a roll of US quarters with you for this. Also pack your own detergent and dryer sheets. Avoid laundry on the formal and semi formal days. Also, travel tide paks are great to wash out undies and bathing suits in the stateroom..
The various altercations were observed in there were involving the following - expect people to take your wet clothes out of washers and place on the table if you are not there shortly after the wash cycle is finished. There are just way too many people waiting to leave washed clothes sitting in a machine because nobody shows up for 5 minutes or even longer to remove it.
Also, please ask about the line status (how many, how long, etc) at the end of the line instead of squeezing into the crowded room and trying to view each washer for yourself. It is like a sauna in there with sardines packed in a can, lol.
Lastly, I sent my husband's dress shirts to be laundered as needed by the ship's laundry staff For $3 per shirt, it was well worth it as they washed and starched as requested, and pressed out nicely.. So I saved myself a lot of aggravation for $9 instead of the $2 and hours required to wash them myself. After all it is vacation!!
More later, but I am currently busy in my own personal laundry room here with mounds of vacation wash needing to be done! Ciao!!
while waiting to wake them for our shore excursion this morning.
I certainly do feel for them though, that would be awful to have spent all that time planning and packing and then to lose your luggage.
I should've just sent them with their dirty clothes/????
