May 5-15, 2010 MED CRUISE on the MAGIC

[pixie08]

great trip report...thank you!

 

[strawberryblonde]

Wow! What a great trip report and amazing pictures!! Thanks for sharing.I might add that you are an incredibly gorgeous family.Maybe you could work a deal and model for DCL brochures...for unlimited cruising...LOL!!

Awww, what a sweet thing to say, thanks!! .....Did my Mom bribe you to do this?!

 

[strawberryblonde]

Thanks again for the positive feedback, disers are so kind

I'm noticing that I forgot some photos and activities from nights 8 and 9, but those pics are on the other computer...I'll get to them!

I'll finish up with our last few days and some final thoughts very soon!

 

[nikkistevej]

Great trip report- love all of the pictures!!!

 

[strawberryblonde]

I forgot to mention my DD's "duck saga" that happened after dinner on day 8.

She has been sleeping with a stuffed duck for the last few years, and she calls him Mr. Cuddle Duck. She brought him on the cruise and talked about how he had a crush on Daisy . Now that she is 10, she wasn't as interested in seeing all of the characters. In fact, she had a very short list of those she wanted to take the time and trouble to see......Stitch, Daisy and Donald, that was it. The only reason she visited with Minnie at the start of the cruise, is because they weren't letting her on the ship yet!

We saw Stitch on Pirate night, and DD loved that. He acted very frisky and stole her stuffed Stitch, played with her and her friend quite a bit.

Villefranche night, I peeked at our tablemate's navigator during dinner and noticed that Daisy and Donald would be in the atrium that night. So DD and I ran up to our room and grabbed Mr. Cuddle Duck to have his photo taken with the other Ducks.

Daisy was first, and DD told her the Mr. Cuddle Duck had a crush on Daisy

We then got back in line, because Donald would be taking Daisy's place soon. The little girl right behind us, had her stuffed duck with her too. I had seen her out and about during the cruise, and she always had her duck with her....she willingly posed with DD and their ducks. I asked what her duck's name was...just "Duck" !

The first thing DD told Donald, was that Mr. Cuddle Duck had a crush on Daisy....this was his response!

He then carted Mr. Cuddle Duck off to the far table before posing with DD!

he gave her Mr. Cuddle Duck back after their photo session but made sure she realized that he was #1 duck by holding up one finger (wingtip?)....it was very cute and DD had the hugest grin the entire time, she kept laughing throughout.

Amazing character interaction

 

[Señor DonDuck]

Wow, so many fantastic pictures! Love the last bit with Daisy and Donald duck.

 

[melir]

Wow! Great trip report ! Thanks for sharing !

I can't wait for my cruise!

 

[idreamofwdw]

Thanks for sharing

 

[strawberryblonde]

...

 

[Hygiene99]

Fantastic Job! Awesome!

I did this trip a few years back thanks for the memories..

Inaugural Med. Did you go to Eze?

Peter

 

[strawberryblonde]

Bittersweet! I was looking forward to this last day at sea, mainly because of Palo brunch ....but it also meant our wonderful vacation was drawing to a close *tear*.

Our kids had room service breakfast and then went to their clubs....DH and I ran up the stairs to deck 10 for our brunch, excited as kids . This is my favorite meal on ship. Many delicious vegetarian choices....yummy! I adore the stollen bread with berries and whipped cream and the grape/cheese pizza. I wish my DS could eat at Palo with us, he would really enjoy it, he is very much into food now that he is in his teens and can eat much more than I can. All of this spread seems a bit wasted on me, he would do it more justice!!

A fellow diser, Everafter, that I hadn't seen since our dismeet on the first seaday, was there at brunch with her extended family. I was quite excited to see her!

This day was chilly and overcast. The seas weren't bad at all, but my DH was feeling a bit sleepy so he climbed into bed for a rest with his book and the TV remote. I ran up to the pool deck to make some tea and saw that they were starting ice carving....my DS used to enjoy watching that! So I ran down to deck 2 to retrieve him from Ocean Quest, then ran back up to deck 9 with him to watch the carving.....we were running up past deck 8 when I puffed "why did I make the 'no elevator' vow?!!...huff huff" . It felt good to use the stairs all cruise and leave the elevators for those who really needed them....and I really NEEDED the stairs! I credit them with helping me keep damage to a low minimum.

It felt so cold up on deck! I grabbed two towels to wrap around DS and me while we watched the ice artist at work. After walking DS back to his club I went and checked on DD in hers and she had to hide some art she was working on from me (must be for my birthday!!).

The rest of the afternoon is a bit of a blurr for me. I did some pin trading and window shopping, I visited with some disers and with my tablemates, I made sure every one took a bit of time out to eat.....

DD had Tea with Alice at 3pm. I gave my ticket to another diser to use for her little girl who had missed out on the tea with her sister and cousin on the first seaday. Our tablemates had tickets, and had offered for DD to sit with them . I stayed in line with everyone to make sure they all got in and sat and took a photo...

DH and I had martini tasting at 4pm. This was what I was looking forward to! I considered the Palo brunch and the martinis as my birthday celebration as we would be kicked off ship for my actual birthday . The martinis were all very good, even the real one. I'd never tasted a real one before, and they were not bad as I had feared. Folks were given the chance to make it "dirty" if they wanted....which means adding olive juice....ick! I do not advise doing that, much better without. We were sitting with a fun couple who I discovered just a few days ago are fellow disers....did not realize it at the time because they had missed the dismeet! It's a small ship after all !! They made our tasting a whole lot more fun, as our speaker was a bit on the serious side.

Between my DH and me, we finished all of our martinis. We were enjoying chatting with our martini couple when I realized we had to run to make it to the kids going away show in the main theater.....luckily that was just one deck right above us! We were tipped off which side was the "girl's side" as we came in to sit down and we were able to sit along the aisle, camera at the ready! We only had to wait a min. or two and the show began....the older kids came in first, boys on one side and girls on the other. DD was walking down with her best friend (our tablemates' DD9) and blowing kisses to everyone, really hamming it up. I took a video clip of this, which is why I don't have a photo of it.

The older kids did a dance, and then the younger kids did a dance with Micky and Minnie and then they did a photo slide show. I realize it must be hard to try and feature each child in this slide show....but the photos were mainly of the younger/smaller/cuter kids. Even though my DD and her bestfriend were at the club every single day, to do every single fun activity (the activites featured heavily in the photo slide show....but the younger kids' photos were picked)....there was not one single photo of them . They were the most disappointed, they had been all set to cheer when their photo came up, for surely at least ONE photo of them would show up they thought. Some cuties were featured in many shots....sigh. Not a biggie, but with a bit more care, more kids could be featured and not just the tiniest ones....I do realize how cute their little faces are, I do!...but the older kids notice more when they are not shown at all.

The older kids left the way they came, and I snapped a shot of my DD and her BF....they did enjoy themselves!

They were excited about their tshirts that they got to keep as well

OK, this is where things really start to blur together and I don't even have photos of the cruise past this point.....so much to cram in with so little time left!

We did enjoy our final dinner. Our tablemates had tipped off the waitstaff, so a birthday banner in white chocolate was added to my dessert....no cake though....not a biggie. Very sweet thing of our tablemates to think of doing, we got so lucky with them, they made our meals on this cruise !! We passed out the tips tonight to everyone, and told our waitstaff that we would not be making it to breakfast....just too early for us! We tipped in cash this time, not sure which way CMs prefer, but cash in hand has GOT to be a good thing was my feeling.

Pin trading with the officers was happening in the atrium, so our entire table hurried out there to see if we could complete any collections. I was able to get the last of the 5 different color micky heads pins ....so that felt complete!

We wanted to see the final show - Dreams - together as a family. DS got asked to go to the show by a girl in his club, and DD's BF wanted to sit with us...so we ended up being a bit spread out, but all in the same area for Dreams.....it was all good! Part of the show is too much for me.....the pressure to believe and fly, I'm not into that....but there are many great parts and I'm always glad to have watched it by the end. There were changes to the show since 4 years ago, and I enjoyed not knowing about them....little surprises are always welcome!

The kids didn't want to see "'Til we Meet again" in the atrium this time...they still remember it from last time (which they enjoyed), and saying goodbye to friends in the club was more important to them this time. So they hurried to their clubs and I hurried to pack.

For some reason I had thought I had until midnight to pack....when I found out it was 10pm, I knew I wouldn't make it, so I didn't stress about it. We didn't have a whole lot of luggage actually, because of the weight restrictions our flights had....so taking it off ship ourselves turned out to be very easy.

Taking down our magnets and FE was a sad moment, actually. Our DD walked right past our door when she came back from the lab that night, it was so empty, it didn't look like our door....she was sad about it too.

 

[strawberryblonde]

Fantastic Job! Awesome!

I did this trip a few years back thanks for the memories..

Inaugural Med. Did you go to Eze?

Peter

Thanks

I had planned to, but we were enjoying Villefranche so much, that we just stayed right there and soaked it up. I'd heard good things about Eze pre-trip, so it is a place I want to visit someday. Our tablemates did make it to Eze and Monaco, but liked Villefranche best of all and seemed to wish they had just stayed put for the day as well.

Villefranche ended up being my fav port and my fav day of the entire cruise....go figure!! That day just hit all the right notes for me, I felt totally on vacation

 

[CRSNDSNY]

Wow, what beautiful photos! Italy look amazing!

 

[strawberryblonde]

We had a couple of days in Barcelona before flying back home. This city is very easy to see by metro, bus or foot. I enjoyed exploring, eating and shopping here!

on the roof of our hotel, Novotel, the pool is up here too

Columbus monument at the end of La Rambla

Hard Rock Cafe dinner for my birthday

Spain's football team was winning, and the entire restaurant became a party zone....made my birthday seem more exciting . Had the best nachos in over a year, here....yum! Can't find good mexican food here in Germany.

Tapas....fun!

walking North on La Rambla

Casa Mila

churros and hot chocolate at El Corte Ingles

La Sagrada Familia

right across the street from our hotel, we called it the "bullet"

 

[CRSNDSNY]

What hotel did you stay at?

How did you find getting from the terminal to your hotel? Did you use a taxi or other service from the hotel?

 

[strawberryblonde]

What hotel did you stay at?

How did you find getting from the terminal to your hotel? Did you use a taxi or other service from the hotel?

Novotel....here is a link...http://www.accorhotels.com/gb/hotel-5560-novotel-barcelona-city/index.shtml

I think you can use the bus system, but DH didn't want to fiddle with that with the kids and luggage, so we used a taxi.

 

[Melcatfish]

Thanks for the fab trip report, it has been lovely to read about your families trip - in the weeks before I cruise I can never get enough of other peoples reports, especially when they include lots of photos

Mel
x

 

[everafter1]

Love your TR! Such great pictures too! I'm so glad I got a chance to meet you, even if we didn't get to chat until the last day

 

[Kay1]

Do those churros look great, or what? You did a wonderful job on your report and the photos are beautiful. Thanks for sharing!

 

[LisaWalkerC21]

Really enjoyed your trip report! Thanks for sharing I can't get enough of all the great information everyone is posting about their experiences in the Mediterranean. I can't wait for our Med cruise this summer!