Off to the Med! All the way from the East! (Updated 11/30/13)

[pandanasbearz]

We're in Villefranche right now! The Internet on the ship is really slooooowww!
We're doing the highlights of Monaco and Monte Carlo excursion so we got off a little early to walk around (well for my parents anyways), I'm just down here for the Internet!

 

[debsters41]

Thanks for checking in! Your fans are glad to hear from you. I have read that the Mickey Bars have finished. I hope that everything else is ok for you!

 

[pandanasbearz]

Hi guys! Was really busy for the past few days after getting back, so I should be writing some more on the trip tomorrow. Hopefully I will finish in time before university opens back up in 1 and a half weeks time!

Sunny

 

[pandanasbearz]

Day 3 - Embarkation day!

Today is the day! Mum and my aunt went for an early morning bag hunt, while me and Sea woke up a little later at around 10am. We have a van booked for us through the hotel to the cruise terminal at 11am, mum came back from the shopping trip a little late at around 11.10am, and off we went on our way to the terminal!

Here's a little progression of how excited we got:

You can probably figure it out me and Sea were dancing with joy by the time we arrived.

Once we got to the terminal, we dropped our bags off, headed for security and checked in!

Finally, we boarded the ship with our family name announced!

On the boat, we headed to the concierge reception where we had everything we booked provided in a file for us so we could go through, we also met our awesome-in-many-ways concierge, Tawanda! Mum then went for lunch at Topsiders while me and Sea walked around a bit then had lunch at Parrot Cay.

We then went to our room, hung up our FE, then took a stroll around the boat exploring everything!

Then muster drill and Adventures away! Across the ocean blue and suddenly you are, sailing away! - sorry, got too carried away .

Then we rested for a bit then Me and Sea then went to watch the show, All aboard: Let the magic begin!, and off to dinner at Lumiere's we went! (Sorry no pics, got too tired)

After dinner, filled to the brim, we just went back to the room and finally went to bed!

 

[pascalstongue]

Oh my god, I love your families t-shirts! So cute! I hope I can convince DH to wear something similar for our boarding day.

 

[MermaidsMom]

I love this report! Is there more coming, or is there another link I've missed?

 

[pandanasbearz]

I love this report! Is there more coming, or is there another link I've missed?

Yup, there's more coming. I've been busy moving back to uni in the UK! I've got more or less this week free and will hopefully get it done, promise!

 

[pandanasbearz]

Day 4 - At Sea

Today me and my sister have planned to explore the ship some more, and character hunt while mum and my aunt have a massage booked in the afternoon.

In the morning, we went and watched Planes after breakfast, had a late lunch then headed our own ways in the early afternoon until we the concierge character meet!

Me and Sea went to a animation session, drawing Stitch!

Loads of photos in this update!

Goofy being, well, goofy!

This evening was formal night, so we headed back to the room to get ready. at around 6.30pm we went and watched Twice Charmed, then dinner!

Donald asked my sister out on a date! Bad! I should tell Daisy!

After dinner it was quite late, so my parents called it a day while I went to the college club meet up.

 

[simivalleysarah]

Wonderful report so far! Thanks for sharing it really helps for those of us who are planning for 2014!

 

[linetbo]

Cant wait to hear more, I am on the Magic next May.

 

[pandanasbearz]

Day 5 - Villefranche

Its Villefranche day! Our first port of call and I woke up to this:

We have a tour booked through Disney for Monte Carlo and Monaco leaving at 12.45pm. So we decided to have a leisurely brunch at Lumiere's and head down to the port just to look around and most importantly - to use the INTERNET!
Tawanda came and picked us from our room around 11am and took us straight down to the gangway, he also told us that he will be joining us on the excursion as well!

We went down and had some food (again!), mum went shopping, Sea went to look around with dad and I have life so I decided to just sit at the cafe and use the INTERNET! We regrouped and headed for our excursion at 12.45.

When we got back to the boat, me and Sea had to run as Junnk was on for the night's show and we got back at 6.30pm, on the second last tender boat so we went straight to the WDT despite how much we wanted a shower!

After the show, we went back to our room and got ready for dinner at Animator's Palate!

Then I went to college club then joined my sister for a late night Mary Poppins by the pool session!

That's it for today! Next up, La Spezia!

 

[tlynk]

Day 1 - The Journey to Espana

The journey begins to Barcelona! Not much to say here except that it was tiring! Here are some pics of the journey:

Here's the customary group picture before we leave - the same one posted earlier.

These are from our flight from Bangkok to Istanbul.

That's me!

My sister, being (mildly) goofy...

And my mum, who always seem to be emailing people from work...Relax mum, your on vacation!

Sorry for the lack of photos, we didn't really take that much after that flight since its really early at Istanbul and we wanted sleep!

The plane taking us to Barcelona! 4 hours later.

My mum being awesome as usual!

We arrived around 11.30am, we came out from baggage claim but can't find our driver booked through sunstransfers I started panicing after we looked around and still can't find him. So after calling and waiting for around 30 minutes he finally turned up mum and dad was not happy .

We spent the rest of the afternoon checking in the hotel and walking around while my mum got up to some shopping.

Is this what first class while flying looks like? WOW! It looks comfortable!

 

[linetbo]

Cant wait to read the complete trip report. I am doing a research for my trip.

 

[Apsychmommy]

Great report so far--can't wait to read the rest as this cruise is definitely on my top list for 2015

 

[pandanasbearz]

Day 6 - La Spezia!

The plan today for me and my sister is that we take it easy and stay around port as we didn't fancy joining the parents on a 2 1/2 hour bus ride to Florence and back! My parents left at around 7.30 for their bus, while me and Sea woke up later and had a casual breakfast at topsiders then made our way off the ship at around 11am to La Spezia.

We needed to take a shuttle bus from the ship's dock to the port entrance where they dropped us off at the visitor's center.

Then we took a stroll into town and found a cafe with internet to use, had some caprese (Tomatoes and mozerella cheese, which Sea actually liked) then walked around some more.

We then headed back to the boat for a the afternoon where we had a dip, some character hunting and just relaxed, until tonight's show - The dream goes on.

Then it was dinner and off to bed, for the big day tomorrow- Rome!

 

[PizzieDuster]

I am enjoying your trip report so much. Your family is adorable. I love all the pictures!

 

[pandanasbearz]

Sorry for the delay! Too much work in uni...its all done now so here's the next installment!

Day 7 - Rome day!

Rome day! At last! We booked a private car tour through "romeinlimo" for the day. We planned to visit (in order) the Vatican, Colosseum, Trevi, then do some shopping and walking around.

I woke up to this:

Well, its not much of a view...but enough to get me and Sea excited for the day!

and then this:

Checkout the Norwegian Epic! - Awesome, but not as awesome as the Magic!

Mum and Dad went to breakfast as usual while I had a later start to the day, then off we went to Rome!

1st stop: Vatican City

We then made our way to the Colosseum, stopping for a picture of this:

and this

Then the Colosseum:

Then we decided to stop for lunch as everyone was feeling the heat, and also since I hadn't had breakfast...

Fuelled up with food and energy, Mum was ready to go shopping but Me and Sea demanded a stop at the Trevi first!

It started to rain! Oh no!

We then went shopping and back to the boat (didn't take photos after this as it was raining and we were in shops anyways)

Back at the boat, we had a bit of a rest before going to watch the show, Villains tonight! Where unfortunately, the computers decided to crash halfway through ( just after "Be prepared", and so they had to cancel it

We then went to dinner, I went to the college meet up after that, and then just hung about with my sister until the pool closed.

 

[bellebud]

I have to say, your family is the absolute cutest family I've ever seen!! thanks for sharing your trip... I'm considering a Med cruise, so this is helping me decide. I like how laid back you are about touring - that's what my family needs. Looking forward to more

 

[pandanasbearz]

Day 8 - Naples + Pirates!

Pompeii day at last! This is one place we've always wanted to visit.
We also booked a private tour for today through APtours as it was very cheap compared to the Disney ones. To do list for today is as follows; Pompeii, Herculaneum and Pizza!
I'll let the picture do the talking for now then.

Here's the pics of Pompeii:

Then its off to the Herculaneum!

In my point of view, Pompeii and the Herculaneum were very different altogether, the Herculaneum was a lot smaller in size (can do in a few hours) than Pompeii, but the Herculaneum was just a village whereas Pompeii was a huge city, the ruins were very different, and the Herculaneum was really well preserved as it was buried by the ashes, not destroyed by rocks.

After the ruins, we went into town to have pizza in the city where it was created, and it was delicious! We then called it a day and when back to the Magic and look who we met!

Stitch!

We then got cleaned up for pirate night and messed around a little.

Then dinnertime!

Adrian our lovely server has requested for the chef to cook us some Thai food tonight! It was actually really good!

Then fireworks time!

Me and Sea went off goofing around afterwards and I met up with the college crew, then finally called it a day (or night!)

Next up our final day at sea!