So, I asked my DH what I should write about next and whether there was anything he remembered about embarkation and the first sea day. Typical guy...ummmmm....I'll think about it. Well, I remembered a bunch of stuff!
So after taking the bus to the terminal, we entered the building and since we'd checked in at the hotel, were able to bypass all the tables they had there. The carry-ons had to go thru a luggage scanner, then up an escalator, down a gangway, and onto deck three. Now after almost 2 years of planning, even though I knew we were going to be announced, and I even knew what the lobby looked like, I still got all sorts of teary! I'm not sure how much I can emphasize that this was truly a "dream come true". I have wanted to see Europe in the worst way for years, and now I got to do it on a Disney cruise ship!!! From the lobby, we went to where ever it was that they were doing Palo and the Tea with Alice. We already had a group dinner reservation at Palo with a disboards group, but we never were able to get a brunch. We got situated with both of these, and we either went to the kids club or to lunch. We'd preregistered DD online, so we went in and toured around, and got her bracelet. Then we decided to hit Parrot Cay instead of Topsiders. While it would have been nice to enjoy the beautiful weather, there's something nice about a server bringing your drinks to you instead of trying not to spill them while you balance your luggage.
By this time, we were able to hit the stateroom! We were in 2560, midship. Really, really liked it. The only bad part was on the last night when some unruly preteens were left unsupervised to run around and shout. But, I digress...We proudly put up our magnets:
And changed into swimsuits for the pool party. I think we may have had a piece or 2 of luggage by this time, but I really can't remember...
**Our 1 tip...all those things people tell you you should bring...we only took the shoe holder! It made keeping all the little stuff...makeup, brushes, hairspray, shoes (imagine that!), sunscreen, etc, etc very manageable. There's only so much shelving in the bathroom....***
I'm thinking that we may have had our Dis Meet before the pool party...I don't remember hanging out in a swimsuit and coverup inside. Dis meet in the Promenade Lounge!! Great turnout, and it gives faces to all the names you've been chatting with for months!!! (or years.....)
The sail away party is a must do at least once. DD liked it, and it gives a good send-off to your vacation. The only downside was that we didn't actually leave Barcelona until something like 8:30 or 9pm...DD swam after the sail away party, so we ended up missing the 1st nite's show. We may have missed it the 2nd nite too...it took us a bit to get the rhythm of ship life. I do regret missing them as the entertainment is pretty good. Dinner that night was in Parrot Cay. We had a table with Mindelmouse and Jel0511's families, so the kids were well occupied, and the adults had great conversations as well (after we figured out out to get us all there so we could hear each other).
I took pics every night of our towel animals:
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Ok, I'll chat about the 1st sea day later...gotta go eat dinner!
Don't forget one of the highlights of that first day....you and DH stopping at our cabin and sharing our first bottle of Spanish wine before dinner
) are running together and that our dismeet was on the sea day*** oops
. I know that in 20 years, I'm going to enjoy looking back on these pics. I also love to sew, and it gave me the opportunity to make all DD's dresses for this trip. And.....I have to remake them all again for the next trip!!!! Is so much easier sewing for her than me...but I did alter a semiformal for the med and did make one formal for AK. For this med cruise, DH had rented a tux. It was waiting for him when we arrived, and really rounded out his wardrobe. He didn't rent one for AK, and says he won't for next summer either. We did, however, buy him a nice suit with several ties and dress shirts. 
Even the reluctant DH can be persuaded to participate!!
Sea days!! We booked the 10-night Med cruise in 2010 so that DH wouldn't have that extra sea day to be "bored". Wow, did we make a huge mistake in that assumption! We weren't bored, we were exhausted!! You have NO IDEA how excited I am that there are 4 sea days this time!! After doing the Rivera, La Spezia, and Rome, I'm going to be longing for a day to sleep in. I'm also a bit worried about how my dad is going to do. That's a lot of activity in 3 days! Our cruise to Alaska was far more relaxing, as there were far fewer port days. Also, the cold temperatures kept the # of repeat showers down, which can take up a surprising amount of time!
So, sea day #1: Got up at the crack of dawn to go for a run. Yup. Not kidding! There were actually a few disboarders out there. While you can hide in the gym from the wind and use the treadmill, I was so excited to have warm air that I wanted to be outside to see the sea!! Run complete, hit the shower, and get ready for our character breakfast. There were 2 possible days for this...both on the sea days. I'm not sure what the rhyme or reason was for the assignments, but we got ours that first morning. Twas fun!
I loved being able to get egg white omelets custom made!! DD was happy to see that there was cartons of chocolate milk! DH was happy to have coffee.
***Error alert** Mindelmouse sent me her trip report and I read it at a swim meet yesterday and it occurs to me that my (all 2 of them
Can I mention that I love the spa? I had made sea day reservations for both DH and I. We both had hot stone massages, the first time to do this type of massage for both of us. I've had a few since then, but none have stood up to the quality of that one! WOW!
DD was in the pool for much of the afternoon. Here in WA, out pool is indoor, so having an outdoor pool and having it be warm was a huge novelty. We hauled her out late afternoon so as to shower and get ready for formal night. So here in lies the question: to dress or not to dress? For our family, we love to dress up. Because DH wears a uniform and I wear scrubs, the opportunity to wear something nice is rare. DD will wear anything dressy, especially if her shoes have little heels
gotta go take DD to school..
I really love that you started this thread! My DD (13 at the time), my sister and I are doing a 7 night Med cruise in June 2013 and I love the Barcelona tips and I can't wait to read more about your trip! It'll be our first Med cruise so I'm fascinated. I sure hope that our DISmeet group has as much fun as yours did (does!)!! I'm an obsessive planner so I will be following this thread to glean as much info as possible!
). So if there's any particular navigator question out there, I can look back to them. That being said, there are, I'm sure, lots of changes to the 2011 navigators. 
So, I keep everything during a trip. Tickets, maps, navigators, etc. I use them when I scrapbook the trip. Now, I'm not a hard-core scrapbooker..No decorative edges or 1 pic per page kind of thing. Nuh-uh. But, the end result is fun to look at and is handy when doing reports like this because you can look back on what you did!! Fortunately, I was able to get one of the special DCL mediterranean 2010 books that were for sale (not so much in AK
So August 20th was Malta, and .....my birthday!! How many people can say they went to Malta for their birthdays? Well, except for all the Maltese.....Anyway, I thought that it was a great way to spend my b-day! I got up early as I wanted to take pics of us pulling into port. I think that the walls...the fortress...surrounding the town of Valletta was absolutely beautiful! See the arch under construction/renovation?
We took our time getting up and out as we were doing this port on our own. The bad part of this was that it wasn't getting any cooler! After disembarking, we avoided all the tourist scams...lots of horse/buggy combos that wanted to give you a tour around the town. While I'm sure it would have been nice, the prices they were charging seemed ridiculous at the time, but I'm afraid I don't remember them right now. We walked UP the hill. Here's the arch that was under construction from the other side..
We headed for St. John's Co-Cathedral, which was stunning. I have the ticket stubs, but no price was listed on them:
The cathedral was not air conditioned. Some people obviously did not bathe.
We also went to the War Museum, which we (meaning DH & I) enjoyed, DD didn't hate it as it was air conditioned. I have the ticket receipt for $15E for the 3 of us. This was the entrance:
At some point, we hit the toy museum...ok at best...save your time, and came upon a square that had a fountain. DD walked up to it, turned around and handed us her glasses, and went to get wet!
We headed back to the ship early to hydrate and get DD in the pool. The view from our stateroom:
There are cafes in that strip that have free wifi you can pilfer while standing outside, by the way....
At dinner, my dear friends had arranged for a birthday cake! It was quite a surprise!
So....what am I going to do next time? I'm interested in the Blue Grotto tour, I think. I want to take my dad to the co-cathedral, and I'm pretty sure Mindelmouse and crew would be ok with all that as well. They did something completely different and if I recall, neither of their kids had quite acclimated and were a bit under the weather. We were forcing water on DD, but even she was a bit sluggish. Did I mention it was hot? Hence the June trip this time around!!!! Malta was fascinating! It was the most bombed location in WWII...those giant fortress-like walls are where the citizens lived to stay safe. There have been multiple cultures that have called Malta home, and their language is a mix, it seems, of them all.
Love love love the fat bike tour idea in Barcelona. I studied that picture you posted with your daughter riding behind your husband with that attachment gizmo. I know that I would feel more comfortable with my twins if they were riding attached to our bikes like she was! Is it a modified tandem kind of bike? Love the idea of seeing lots of stuff without wearing out our daughters by walking too much. Did they offer kids helmets? If you have any other words of advice about this tour, please let me know.
Thanks!!!!
Beth
Sounds awesome! Thanks for all of the tips on this and everything else. I think we are going to do it on our 12-nighter cruise next July! I showed my DH your post and we also looked on their website so will definitely put this in my planning file. Even though the website says to just show up, I'll send them an email and let them know we'll be wanting two attachments to the bigger bikes for our girls. I love those beach cruiser bikes. We had them when we were in college at UC Santa Barbara! I hear you on the helmet issue. Wouldn't want the girls to catch anything hair related from a strangers' helmet. But can't envision packing their bike helmets either, given all the space issues with luggage. So we will just muddle through it without helmets and tell them it is a Spain only thing.
