Magical Mystery Tour
- Thread starter dolphingirl47
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Great day in Malta, Corinna with plenty of fab photos!!! I love the photo of Minnie and Mickey in their Arabian outfits... 
We haven't decided what to do at this port yet so I'm definitely open to suggestions and it looks like it's worth exploring!!!
I know we want to take it relatively easy (as the next few port days are rather busy 
) so we had thought to just find a beach and relax BUT now I'm thinking maybe we'll be a bit more adventurous...
We haven't decided what to do at this port yet so I'm definitely open to suggestions and it looks like it's worth exploring!!!
I know we want to take it relatively easy (as the next few port days are rather busy ) so we had thought to just find a beach and relax BUT now I'm thinking maybe we'll be a bit more adventurous...
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
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Great day in Malta, Corinna with plenty of fab photos!!! I love the photo of Minnie and Mickey in their Arabian outfits...
We haven't decided what to do at this port yet so I'm definitely open to suggestions and it looks like it's worth exploring!!!
I would definitely recommend the City Sightseeing tour. It gives you a good overview of the island and its history, but because it is only half a day, you still have time to go and explore Valletta or head for the beach afterwards.
Corinna
Ware Bears
Bring me that horizon
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Great instalment. It brings back many happy memories as I visited Malta on a school cruise and would love to go back one day.
Lovely photos yet again, especially the one with Mickey and Minnie.
It brings back many happy memories as I visited Malta on a school cruise and would love to go back one day.Lovely photos yet again, especially the one with Mickey and Minnie.
Pegasus928
DIS Veteran
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- Jun 23, 2007
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Just been catching up on your Magic days.
You have a lot of great pics and it is really interesting to see the ports of call.
I love all the Disney statues you took pics of on the day you boarded. Weere these for display only or were they for sale?
And the choccies that you see in the pics with the towel animals - do they have different characters on them? Do you get a different one each day? Does anyone collect them
You have a lot of great pics and it is really interesting to see the ports of call.
I love all the Disney statues you took pics of on the day you boarded. Weere these for display only or were they for sale?
And the choccies that you see in the pics with the towel animals - do they have different characters on them? Do you get a different one each day? Does anyone collect them
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
- Messages
- 31,283
Just been catching up on your Magic days.
You have a lot of great pics and it is really interesting to see the ports of call.
I love all the Disney statues you took pics of on the day you boarded. Weere these for display only or were they for sale?
And the choccies that you see in the pics with the towel animals - do they have different characters on them? Do you get a different one each day? Does anyone collect them
The statues are only there for decoration. They are in the windows of the Mickey's Mates shop. I must have walked past them hundreds of times on my previous three cruises, but I never really noticed them, but this time they really jumped out at me.
The chocolates only come with the Sleepy wrapper. There is one exception. On Pirate Night the chocolates are coins/ medallions.
Corinna
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
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Day 8
Again, by the time we got up we were already in port. The port of call for this day was Tunis. This was the only day on which we had booked an excursion through Disney. We had to meet at 9:30 in the Promenade Lounge on deck 3. So that gave us plenty of time to get some breakfast at Lumieres, which is right next door. We sat down and straight away an announcement came that the ship had been cleared by the authorities, but that they had just found out that we would need passports that day if we wanted to leave the ship. The previous evening we had been issued with landing cards for Tunisia that clearly stated that they would allow passport-free entry into Tunisia. We did not need a passport anywhere else. My photocard of my provisional license together with my key card was always sufficient. So I did not doubt the information that we were given the day before. This was one of those situations where I was glad that our cabin was only on deck 2. I ordered my breakfast and then I went back to the cabin to get the passports. I was back in plenty of time before my breakfast arrived.
After breakfast, we went over to the Promenade Lounge and sat down. We had a really negative experience with a Disney excursion last year and were therefore a little nervous, but this time everything worked like clockwork. The staff arrived in plenty of time before the official meeting time. They made an announcement that everybody would need their passport and also that due to cultural convention in Tunisia, both men and women had to ensure that their shoulders and knees were covered. I was a little surprised by this. As far as women are concerned, I expected this and I was wearing trousers and top with sleeves down to the elbow. However, in Dubai, it is perfectly acceptable for men to wear shorts. Aparently not so in Tunisia. So DH had to go back to the cabin to change as he had been wearing shorts. It appeared a little bit silly as we had booked a beach excursion, but hey, if in Rome, do as the Romans do.
As soon as the official meeting time had arrived, they asked one member from each family to come forward with passports, landing cards, key cards and excursion tickets. Three members of staff went along the line that formed and checked that everything was present and correct and then issued stickers with the tour number on. Once this was all done, they gave out towels and then radioed the staff working on deck 1 to check if they are ready for us. Once they were given the go ahead, we all moved down to deck 1 and left the ship. Two members of staff from Youth Activities actually came on the excursion with us and that made a lot of difference. One went ahead of the group to make sure that everybody knew where they were going and one stayed at the back of the group to make sure that we had not lost anybody. Immigration was very smooth. They checked our passport and stamped our landing card and then we were on our way. I know exactly two phrases in Arabic "As-salam alaykum" (Hello) and "Shokran" (Thank you). I had taught them to DH earlier that day and he used them on the immigration official with great effect. He even got a smile. Unfortunately they did not stamp our passport. If I have to bring my passport, I at least expected a stamp.
Once everybody had gone through immigration, we were escorted to our bus and soon we were on our way. The hotel were we went to for our beach break was about a 20 minute bus journey away from the port. Tunis very much reminded we of Dubai even down to land being reclaimed from water (in this case lakes rather than the sea) and loads of construction going on. I felt right at home. About an hour after our initial meeting time, we had arrived at the hotel. I was very impressed.
The hotel was beautiful. It was built in typical Arabic style. We were welcomed with a non-alcoholic cocktail and then shown the pool that we were allowed to use and then the beach. The day was a little overcast and it was quite windy. I had expected a beach with white fine sand like in Dubai or the Caribbean, but the sand was brown and quite rough. DH headed straight in the water and only came out briefly to get his wetsuit on. I waded in up to my ankles and decided that it was way too cold. I walked along the beach for a bit. They were offering camel and horse rides and their were vendors selling ceramics, jewellery and baskets. I was not tempted by the camel rides or in buying anything. I ended up chatting with the two people from Youth Activities and found out a bit more about what there job is all about. This is definitely something that I would consider for the future.
Once DH was suitably chilled, we decided to head up to the pool. On the way, we were intercepted by one of the vendors, who proceeded to tell him that I was worth 4000 camels. We had a good giggle and moved on. When we got to the pool, we were the only people there. The pool was huge. It was still pretty refreshing, but once I was in, I was fine. We were joined shortly afterwards by one of the Youth Activities staff and we continued chatting while swimming next to each other.
After a while we had enough and got out of the pool to dry off. By then the sun had come out and could just dry off naturally. Once we were dry, we went inside the hotel to have a closer look. This was really beautiful. I was hoping for a gift shop as I was looking for a Pashmina to go with my semi-formal dress. There was a gift shop, but it looked quite expensive and was also closed. We bumped into one of the staff from the tour operator and got chatting to him. He told us a lot about his country and based on what we heard, we decided that we really would like to come back to travel around Tunesia at some stage. It seems to be such a beautiful and diverse country. My employer does fly to Tunis via Dubai so it will be easy and cheap for us to get there.
We were just leaving to get back on the bus, when I noticed that the gift shop was now open. As I still had 15 minutes until we needed to be back on the bus, I decided to have a look. I could not find a Pashmina, but I saw a beautiful traditional Arabic dress in a gorgeous turquoise colour with gold embroidery. I had always lusted after the traditional dresses in Dubai, but they are so expensive there. I decided to check how much they wanted for the dress. Considering that this was a hotel gift shop, I did not expect that it would be any kind of price that I would be willing to pay. Well, I was surprised. It was only EUR20. So I snapped this up. Not only does it look beautiful, but it is also made from lovely soft cotton and is very comfortable.
After I bought my dress, we headed back to the bus and soon we were on our way back to the port. I had originally wanted to visit the Soukhs in the afternoon, but I had not realised how far the port is from the centre of Tunis. I think there is a train, but that just seemed too much like hard work. DH was not bothered either way and he is not too keen on the Soukhs in Dubai so we decided to head back to the ship.
The bus driver wanted to drop us off again where we were picked up in the morning, but was redirected to a different area of the port. While we were gone, two more ships had arrived, one of which was the Louis Majesty. I am not sure if you heard that story on the news, but a couple of months ago, this ship was hit by a freak wave, which caused some of the windows to shatter and one passenger actually lost his life when he was knocked over by the wave and hit his head. Well, you would never have guessed what had happened by looking at the ship. She looked in excellent condition. Of course, little did we know that we would be hit by just such freak weather before the cruise was over.
It soon became clear why we were redirected. They actually have a little Soukh right at the port. The sold the usual tourist stuff as well as rugs, jewellery, beautiful wooden boxes and chess sets and dresses. Unfortunately I still did not find a Pashmina, but I ended up buying another traditional dress. This one is purple. I found it really hard to decided between the purple and a Royal Blue dress and I wish that I had bought both. They were also doing Henna art at the Soukh and I was very tempted, but we wanted to get some lunch. There was also a photo opportunity with a Falcon and I had every intention to come back after lunch to get some Henna art and have my photo taken with the Falcon.We walked back to the ship and I took some photos of the local architecture.
When we got to the gangway, they not only checked our passports and room keys, but there was also an immigration offical there, who collected the landing cards. So we could not get back off the ship again. We dropped our stuff off in the cabin and I quickly tried on my dresses, which fitted perfectly. We then headed up to Topsiders for some lunch. Again, the place was pretty empty. The theme for the day was Middle Eastern. So I was right in my element. I had lentil soup, houmous, olives, falafel, grilled chicken, couscous and beef patties followed by bakklava and everything was yummy. DH had a bit of an allergic reaction to one of the salads. We never could figure out what was in it that upset him.
Again, by the time we got up we were already in port. The port of call for this day was Tunis. This was the only day on which we had booked an excursion through Disney. We had to meet at 9:30 in the Promenade Lounge on deck 3. So that gave us plenty of time to get some breakfast at Lumieres, which is right next door. We sat down and straight away an announcement came that the ship had been cleared by the authorities, but that they had just found out that we would need passports that day if we wanted to leave the ship. The previous evening we had been issued with landing cards for Tunisia that clearly stated that they would allow passport-free entry into Tunisia. We did not need a passport anywhere else. My photocard of my provisional license together with my key card was always sufficient. So I did not doubt the information that we were given the day before. This was one of those situations where I was glad that our cabin was only on deck 2. I ordered my breakfast and then I went back to the cabin to get the passports. I was back in plenty of time before my breakfast arrived.
After breakfast, we went over to the Promenade Lounge and sat down. We had a really negative experience with a Disney excursion last year and were therefore a little nervous, but this time everything worked like clockwork. The staff arrived in plenty of time before the official meeting time. They made an announcement that everybody would need their passport and also that due to cultural convention in Tunisia, both men and women had to ensure that their shoulders and knees were covered. I was a little surprised by this. As far as women are concerned, I expected this and I was wearing trousers and top with sleeves down to the elbow. However, in Dubai, it is perfectly acceptable for men to wear shorts. Aparently not so in Tunisia. So DH had to go back to the cabin to change as he had been wearing shorts. It appeared a little bit silly as we had booked a beach excursion, but hey, if in Rome, do as the Romans do.
As soon as the official meeting time had arrived, they asked one member from each family to come forward with passports, landing cards, key cards and excursion tickets. Three members of staff went along the line that formed and checked that everything was present and correct and then issued stickers with the tour number on. Once this was all done, they gave out towels and then radioed the staff working on deck 1 to check if they are ready for us. Once they were given the go ahead, we all moved down to deck 1 and left the ship. Two members of staff from Youth Activities actually came on the excursion with us and that made a lot of difference. One went ahead of the group to make sure that everybody knew where they were going and one stayed at the back of the group to make sure that we had not lost anybody. Immigration was very smooth. They checked our passport and stamped our landing card and then we were on our way. I know exactly two phrases in Arabic "As-salam alaykum" (Hello) and "Shokran" (Thank you). I had taught them to DH earlier that day and he used them on the immigration official with great effect. He even got a smile. Unfortunately they did not stamp our passport. If I have to bring my passport, I at least expected a stamp.
Once everybody had gone through immigration, we were escorted to our bus and soon we were on our way. The hotel were we went to for our beach break was about a 20 minute bus journey away from the port. Tunis very much reminded we of Dubai even down to land being reclaimed from water (in this case lakes rather than the sea) and loads of construction going on. I felt right at home. About an hour after our initial meeting time, we had arrived at the hotel. I was very impressed.
The hotel was beautiful. It was built in typical Arabic style. We were welcomed with a non-alcoholic cocktail and then shown the pool that we were allowed to use and then the beach. The day was a little overcast and it was quite windy. I had expected a beach with white fine sand like in Dubai or the Caribbean, but the sand was brown and quite rough. DH headed straight in the water and only came out briefly to get his wetsuit on. I waded in up to my ankles and decided that it was way too cold. I walked along the beach for a bit. They were offering camel and horse rides and their were vendors selling ceramics, jewellery and baskets. I was not tempted by the camel rides or in buying anything. I ended up chatting with the two people from Youth Activities and found out a bit more about what there job is all about. This is definitely something that I would consider for the future.
Once DH was suitably chilled, we decided to head up to the pool. On the way, we were intercepted by one of the vendors, who proceeded to tell him that I was worth 4000 camels. We had a good giggle and moved on. When we got to the pool, we were the only people there. The pool was huge. It was still pretty refreshing, but once I was in, I was fine. We were joined shortly afterwards by one of the Youth Activities staff and we continued chatting while swimming next to each other.
After a while we had enough and got out of the pool to dry off. By then the sun had come out and could just dry off naturally. Once we were dry, we went inside the hotel to have a closer look. This was really beautiful. I was hoping for a gift shop as I was looking for a Pashmina to go with my semi-formal dress. There was a gift shop, but it looked quite expensive and was also closed. We bumped into one of the staff from the tour operator and got chatting to him. He told us a lot about his country and based on what we heard, we decided that we really would like to come back to travel around Tunesia at some stage. It seems to be such a beautiful and diverse country. My employer does fly to Tunis via Dubai so it will be easy and cheap for us to get there.
We were just leaving to get back on the bus, when I noticed that the gift shop was now open. As I still had 15 minutes until we needed to be back on the bus, I decided to have a look. I could not find a Pashmina, but I saw a beautiful traditional Arabic dress in a gorgeous turquoise colour with gold embroidery. I had always lusted after the traditional dresses in Dubai, but they are so expensive there. I decided to check how much they wanted for the dress. Considering that this was a hotel gift shop, I did not expect that it would be any kind of price that I would be willing to pay. Well, I was surprised. It was only EUR20. So I snapped this up. Not only does it look beautiful, but it is also made from lovely soft cotton and is very comfortable.
After I bought my dress, we headed back to the bus and soon we were on our way back to the port. I had originally wanted to visit the Soukhs in the afternoon, but I had not realised how far the port is from the centre of Tunis. I think there is a train, but that just seemed too much like hard work. DH was not bothered either way and he is not too keen on the Soukhs in Dubai so we decided to head back to the ship.
The bus driver wanted to drop us off again where we were picked up in the morning, but was redirected to a different area of the port. While we were gone, two more ships had arrived, one of which was the Louis Majesty. I am not sure if you heard that story on the news, but a couple of months ago, this ship was hit by a freak wave, which caused some of the windows to shatter and one passenger actually lost his life when he was knocked over by the wave and hit his head. Well, you would never have guessed what had happened by looking at the ship. She looked in excellent condition. Of course, little did we know that we would be hit by just such freak weather before the cruise was over.
It soon became clear why we were redirected. They actually have a little Soukh right at the port. The sold the usual tourist stuff as well as rugs, jewellery, beautiful wooden boxes and chess sets and dresses. Unfortunately I still did not find a Pashmina, but I ended up buying another traditional dress. This one is purple. I found it really hard to decided between the purple and a Royal Blue dress and I wish that I had bought both. They were also doing Henna art at the Soukh and I was very tempted, but we wanted to get some lunch. There was also a photo opportunity with a Falcon and I had every intention to come back after lunch to get some Henna art and have my photo taken with the Falcon.We walked back to the ship and I took some photos of the local architecture.
When we got to the gangway, they not only checked our passports and room keys, but there was also an immigration offical there, who collected the landing cards. So we could not get back off the ship again. We dropped our stuff off in the cabin and I quickly tried on my dresses, which fitted perfectly. We then headed up to Topsiders for some lunch. Again, the place was pretty empty. The theme for the day was Middle Eastern. So I was right in my element. I had lentil soup, houmous, olives, falafel, grilled chicken, couscous and beef patties followed by bakklava and everything was yummy. DH had a bit of an allergic reaction to one of the salads. We never could figure out what was in it that upset him.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
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- Dec 25, 2007
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After lunch, I decided to give out my fish extender gifts. I only had 12 cabins this time round as we had divided people taking part into smaller groups. Howver, they were spread over every deck with exception of deck 1. DH decided to come along for some exercise. He had never been on deck 5, where the kids' clubs and the movie theatre are and neither of us was aware that there is a small outside deck on deck 8. I had made mobile phone charms and zip pulls spelling out the word "Magic" with crystals in the colours of the ship as accents.
Once we had done our Fish Extender run, it was nearly time to go up to the gym for our Body Composition Analysis. I quickly went back to the cabin to get my swimsuit and then we headed upstairs. This was very interesting. We first discussed various aspects of our lifestyle and our goals. The fitness instructor then hooked us up to a machine that checked information like hydration, body fat, how effective our metabolism is and water retention. Based on the results he then made recommendations regarding lifestyle changes. I had a lovely surprise in two respects. First of all I had always assumed that my metabolism isn't very efficient, but apparently it is excellent. I also found out that since December, I have lost about 15% of my body fat. I was over the moon. I got full marks for hydration, but water retention is a real issue for me and this equated to over 2 Stone. I had a serious Diet Coke habit and according to the fitness instructor, those two things are directly linked as the body cannot break down the chemicals in this, but stores them in the fat cells and then surrounds them with water to offset the toxic effect. DH had the same problem to a lesser extend and in his case the issue is coffee as coffee beans are sprayed with a lot of different chemicals, which the body also cannot break down. So we have both given up coffee and I have given up Diet Coke and this is making a huge difference. We agreed that we will come back during our Transatlantic cruise to check just how much difference those changes have made.
We went into the Rainforest Room afterwards to chill out for a bit. Once we had enough of this, DH wanted a session in the Sauna in the changing room, but I decided to get changed and have some more photos with characters taken. I managed to get photos with Donald and Daisy, Mickey and Minnie and Chip and Dale in their Italian costumes. They also had a green backdrop up. I asked one of the the photographers what this was in aid off and he would not tell me. He just said that it was a surprise. I still had my photo taken in front of this backdrop and DH came up for dinner, we had our photo taken together. When I checked the photos later, they had added a view of Malta behind us. I am really quite pleased about the result.
Dinner that night was the rotational menu at Lumieres. Even though Lumieres is my favourite restaurant, the corresponding rotational menu is probably my least favourite. None of the starters that evening appealed to me, but I rather fancied both soups. So I passed on the starter and had both Mrs. Potts French Onion Soup and the Tomato and Basil Soup, which were both very nice. For my main course I had the Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Olive-oil Mashed Potatoes, Bacon-wrapped Green Beans and a Madeira and Mustard sauce. For dessert, I could not make up my mind between the Grand Marnier Souffle and the Chocolate Mousse with Brandy-marinated Cherries.
After dinner, we actually went to some of the entertainment. Once per cruise they do a show called Match Your Mate, which is a bit like the TV show Mr. and Mrs. here in the UK. We had watched this once previous on our second cruise and it was really funny. This time round it was even better. They tend to choose a couple who only got married recently, the couple that has been married the longest amongst those present and a couple somewhere in the middle. The newly weds were really newly wed. They had married on the ship two days earlier. This proved to be quite hillarious as their respective families were on board and probably found out more than they had bargained for. The second couple were as mad as hatters. The third couple were from Wales and have been married 35 years. They were also very outspoken. We ended sitting with two of our table mates and all four of us laughed so hard that we had tears streaming down our faces. This was definitely well worth staying up for.
When we got back to our cabin, the privacy curtain in front of our bed had been drawn. When I opened it, I realised why. Our stateroom host was obviously worried that our newest cabin mate might escaped. We found this dangerous creature on our bed:
Once we had done our Fish Extender run, it was nearly time to go up to the gym for our Body Composition Analysis. I quickly went back to the cabin to get my swimsuit and then we headed upstairs. This was very interesting. We first discussed various aspects of our lifestyle and our goals. The fitness instructor then hooked us up to a machine that checked information like hydration, body fat, how effective our metabolism is and water retention. Based on the results he then made recommendations regarding lifestyle changes. I had a lovely surprise in two respects. First of all I had always assumed that my metabolism isn't very efficient, but apparently it is excellent. I also found out that since December, I have lost about 15% of my body fat. I was over the moon. I got full marks for hydration, but water retention is a real issue for me and this equated to over 2 Stone. I had a serious Diet Coke habit and according to the fitness instructor, those two things are directly linked as the body cannot break down the chemicals in this, but stores them in the fat cells and then surrounds them with water to offset the toxic effect. DH had the same problem to a lesser extend and in his case the issue is coffee as coffee beans are sprayed with a lot of different chemicals, which the body also cannot break down. So we have both given up coffee and I have given up Diet Coke and this is making a huge difference. We agreed that we will come back during our Transatlantic cruise to check just how much difference those changes have made.
We went into the Rainforest Room afterwards to chill out for a bit. Once we had enough of this, DH wanted a session in the Sauna in the changing room, but I decided to get changed and have some more photos with characters taken. I managed to get photos with Donald and Daisy, Mickey and Minnie and Chip and Dale in their Italian costumes. They also had a green backdrop up. I asked one of the the photographers what this was in aid off and he would not tell me. He just said that it was a surprise. I still had my photo taken in front of this backdrop and DH came up for dinner, we had our photo taken together. When I checked the photos later, they had added a view of Malta behind us. I am really quite pleased about the result.
Dinner that night was the rotational menu at Lumieres. Even though Lumieres is my favourite restaurant, the corresponding rotational menu is probably my least favourite. None of the starters that evening appealed to me, but I rather fancied both soups. So I passed on the starter and had both Mrs. Potts French Onion Soup and the Tomato and Basil Soup, which were both very nice. For my main course I had the Grilled Beef Tenderloin with Olive-oil Mashed Potatoes, Bacon-wrapped Green Beans and a Madeira and Mustard sauce. For dessert, I could not make up my mind between the Grand Marnier Souffle and the Chocolate Mousse with Brandy-marinated Cherries.
After dinner, we actually went to some of the entertainment. Once per cruise they do a show called Match Your Mate, which is a bit like the TV show Mr. and Mrs. here in the UK. We had watched this once previous on our second cruise and it was really funny. This time round it was even better. They tend to choose a couple who only got married recently, the couple that has been married the longest amongst those present and a couple somewhere in the middle. The newly weds were really newly wed. They had married on the ship two days earlier. This proved to be quite hillarious as their respective families were on board and probably found out more than they had bargained for. The second couple were as mad as hatters. The third couple were from Wales and have been married 35 years. They were also very outspoken. We ended sitting with two of our table mates and all four of us laughed so hard that we had tears streaming down our faces. This was definitely well worth staying up for.
When we got back to our cabin, the privacy curtain in front of our bed had been drawn. When I opened it, I realised why. Our stateroom host was obviously worried that our newest cabin mate might escaped. We found this dangerous creature on our bed:
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2004
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Another fab day, Corinna. I am loving your trip report as it's making me SO excited!!! 
Really looking forward to our day in Tunis as I've only been there once before - years ago we spent a week on the Kerkennah islands..
Can I be nosy and ask if there was any difference in price between your dress from the hotel gift shop and the port-side souk??? I am hoping to buy a rug during our visit so all tips are welcome...
We've booked the rather full-on 'Bardo Museum, Medina, Carthage & Sidi Bou Said' excursion for that day as we wanted to see as much as possible!!! Famous last words... 
Love your FE gifts - very creative!!! Sadly our cruise meet thread has been so dead it's hardly been worth suggesting anything group-wise. So I'm not bothering this time around but I do wish there at least some participants. Oh well, there's always next time.
PS: I've made a note of the two phrases "As-salam alaykum" (Hello) and "Shokran" (Thank you)...
Really looking forward to our day in Tunis as I've only been there once before - years ago we spent a week on the Kerkennah islands.. Can I be nosy and ask if there was any difference in price between your dress from the hotel gift shop and the port-side souk??? I am hoping to buy a rug during our visit so all tips are welcome...
We've booked the rather full-on 'Bardo Museum, Medina, Carthage & Sidi Bou Said' excursion for that day as we wanted to see as much as possible!!! Famous last words...
Love your FE gifts - very creative!!! Sadly our cruise meet thread has been so dead it's hardly been worth suggesting anything group-wise. So I'm not bothering this time around but I do wish there at least some participants. Oh well, there's always next time.
PS: I've made a note of the two phrases "As-salam alaykum" (Hello) and "Shokran" (Thank you)...
mandymouse
Bahama Mama Time !!
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- Mar 8, 2003
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- 72,440
What a beautiful hotel you spent the morning at Corinna 
I did laugh at loud to find that you are worth 4000 camels
I thought your FE gifts were lovely too
More lovely photos with characters too
I did laugh at loud to find that you are worth 4000 camels
I thought your FE gifts were lovely too
More lovely photos with characters too
- Joined
- Oct 19, 2004
- Messages
- 15,500
Me too - that's a lotta camels...I did laugh at loud to find that you are worth 4000 camels
And I'm guessing it was the Body Composition Analysis session that put paid to the caffeine intake...?
florida sun
Mrs Christopher Eccleston wannabe!
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- May 2, 2004
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- 17,635
Corrina, Im fully caught up with your trip report now and Im so enjoying it, fantastic. I thought the first towel animal were 2 seals nose to nose? But I may be wrong
I love your day at Malta, I have been there twice and also stayed at the little sister Island of Gozo which is breath taking.
Your pink evening dress is stunning and also love the purple one as well.
Cant wait for the next instalment
I love your day at Malta, I have been there twice and also stayed at the little sister Island of Gozo which is breath taking.
Your pink evening dress is stunning and also love the purple one as well.
Cant wait for the next instalment
Tammy Stringer
<font color=red>I love babies - all milky and baby
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- May 5, 2002
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- 1,505
I am really enjoying your report Corinna.
Full marks for your determination to get to the port no matter what - what a great adventure.
Looking forward to reading more
Tammy
Full marks for your determination to get to the port no matter what - what a great adventure.
Looking forward to reading more
Tammy
eeyorefanuk
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2009
- Messages
- 4,082
Really loving your report - thank you
You said about the rainforest spa ... I get the impression you could use this the whole cruise? if this is correct how much did you pay (if you do not mind me asking) and also what does the rainforest spa entail?
PS Love the dress you bought - very pretty - oh and love your hair
You said about the rainforest spa ... I get the impression you could use this the whole cruise? if this is correct how much did you pay (if you do not mind me asking) and also what does the rainforest spa entail?
PS Love the dress you bought - very pretty - oh and love your hair
TotallyAngelic
Disney Addict
- Joined
- Aug 14, 2005
- Messages
- 6,687
Fantastic photos from Malta and Tunisia .... definitely inspiring me to do a Med cruise at some point.
dolphingirl47
In Search of the Tag Fairy
- Joined
- Dec 25, 2007
- Messages
- 31,283
Day 9
This was the day on which we did the first of the Italian ports. I had an early start as I had booked an 8:00 AM spa treatment. I left DH asleep and headed for the spa. On my way there, I checked the previous nights photos on the photo kiosks on deck 3 and saw us pulling into Naples.
I had been meaning to try a hot stone massage for ages. However, the spa that is linked to the sister location of my gym at home no longer offers this and on the ship, this is rather expensive. I have only had one previous massage on the Wonder in 2008 and that was not a very good experience. So I was reluctant to pay that much. The previous day, I had spotted a port special, which combined a choice of three 20 minute treatments for a fair price. A hot stone massage was one of the options. I had chosen a back, neck and shoulder massage, the hot stone massage and a facial. When I got to the spa, I was sent to change. Shortly afterwards I was collected by my beauty therapist. She was called Maggie, was from Namibia and utterly fantastic. She worked very hard to ensure that I would have an enjoyable experience and she succeeded 100%. The treatment was heavenly and I still feel the benefits of this now. My treatment was in one of the spa villas so I got a good look at this, too. Once the treatment was finished, she left me to get up and put my robe back on before coming back with some water for me. This is normally the part I tread as you usually get a full- blown sales pitch for the products they used. I do love the Elemis products that they use and I have a few at home, but luggage space was at a premium and I get them cheaper online when I am at home. Not so this time, she just handed me a consultation card with her recommendations and nothing more was said on this topic. She most certainly did not try to sell me anything. I checked if she would still be on the ship for the Transatlantic cruise, which she will be. I have the feeling that I will treat myself to the full hot stone massage then and I will most certainly request Maggie for this.
When I got back to the cabin, DH had got up and was not there. I went around the usual places where he likes to be, but could not find him anywhere. After getting a bit of Stollen bread from Cove Cafe, I headed back to the cabin. This time round I noticed a note from him saying that he would be on deck 9 or 10 to admire the view. I found him on deck 10. Mount Vesuvius was very prominent in the background, but shrouded in mist. I took some photos and once we had finished admiring the view, we headed to Topsiders for some breakfast.
I am not overly keen on Topsiders normally as the buffet line is a bit of a bottleneck and it can be very chaotic. However, at that time in the morning it was the only place where we could still get breakfast. With a lot of people already on excursions, it was very quiet and I was actually quite impressed. The selection of food was very good and it was all tasty.
From breakfast we went straight down to deck 3. Disembarkation that day was from the atrium. I was too lazy to get back to the cabin first and that was a big mistake. I was just wearing a shoulder-free little sundress and had not brought any sunscreen, hat or sun glasses. Let's just say that I cooked in style that day.
This was the day on which we did the first of the Italian ports. I had an early start as I had booked an 8:00 AM spa treatment. I left DH asleep and headed for the spa. On my way there, I checked the previous nights photos on the photo kiosks on deck 3 and saw us pulling into Naples.
I had been meaning to try a hot stone massage for ages. However, the spa that is linked to the sister location of my gym at home no longer offers this and on the ship, this is rather expensive. I have only had one previous massage on the Wonder in 2008 and that was not a very good experience. So I was reluctant to pay that much. The previous day, I had spotted a port special, which combined a choice of three 20 minute treatments for a fair price. A hot stone massage was one of the options. I had chosen a back, neck and shoulder massage, the hot stone massage and a facial. When I got to the spa, I was sent to change. Shortly afterwards I was collected by my beauty therapist. She was called Maggie, was from Namibia and utterly fantastic. She worked very hard to ensure that I would have an enjoyable experience and she succeeded 100%. The treatment was heavenly and I still feel the benefits of this now. My treatment was in one of the spa villas so I got a good look at this, too. Once the treatment was finished, she left me to get up and put my robe back on before coming back with some water for me. This is normally the part I tread as you usually get a full- blown sales pitch for the products they used. I do love the Elemis products that they use and I have a few at home, but luggage space was at a premium and I get them cheaper online when I am at home. Not so this time, she just handed me a consultation card with her recommendations and nothing more was said on this topic. She most certainly did not try to sell me anything. I checked if she would still be on the ship for the Transatlantic cruise, which she will be. I have the feeling that I will treat myself to the full hot stone massage then and I will most certainly request Maggie for this.
When I got back to the cabin, DH had got up and was not there. I went around the usual places where he likes to be, but could not find him anywhere. After getting a bit of Stollen bread from Cove Cafe, I headed back to the cabin. This time round I noticed a note from him saying that he would be on deck 9 or 10 to admire the view. I found him on deck 10. Mount Vesuvius was very prominent in the background, but shrouded in mist. I took some photos and once we had finished admiring the view, we headed to Topsiders for some breakfast.
I am not overly keen on Topsiders normally as the buffet line is a bit of a bottleneck and it can be very chaotic. However, at that time in the morning it was the only place where we could still get breakfast. With a lot of people already on excursions, it was very quiet and I was actually quite impressed. The selection of food was very good and it was all tasty.
From breakfast we went straight down to deck 3. Disembarkation that day was from the atrium. I was too lazy to get back to the cabin first and that was a big mistake. I was just wearing a shoulder-free little sundress and had not brought any sunscreen, hat or sun glasses. Let's just say that I cooked in style that day.
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