It's Father's Day and DD10 surprised him with a home-made card. We kept it up next to the mirror in our room.
I ordered room service for the family: Donuts, coffee with 1/2 & 1/2, fruit loops, croissants, and cinnamon rolls. It arrived at 5:30 a.m. Surprised everyone in the cabin. Remember, room service is free. However, I did tip in Euros.
I scheduled a Mickey wake-up call everyday. DDs hated this, because they wanted to sleep in.
DH took some time getting up, get a cup of coffee, and off he went up to Deck 9 & 10 to take pictures of when the ship reach the port of VilleFranche-Sur-Mer. I wanted to take a shower, because I knew that it was going to be hot and humid. I didn't want to feel yucky on the return back from our DIY excursion into Monaco.
Here we had to tender into the port.
Just as beautiful as I remembered it. We were late in getting off the ship, because we had to wait in the Theater on Deck 5 to get a spot on the Tender. Well! This was chaotic and everyone’s nerves were started to get fried. We had to wait almost 50 mins. to finally get to the Tender.
DD13 received a nice Nikon camera for Christmas and we purchased a new lense for her graduation gift. So, she went up with DH and took pics. After we docked, DD10 played a little ping-pong with DH.
We finally got on the tender @ 9:30 a.m. A 45 mins. wait. I don't know what happened, but a lot of people in the Theater who were looking to DIY excursions were pretty irritated. We were to meet-up with Double Trouble, but we were behind.
The crew member Shiree handled the heated tempers very well. We did the wave for 10 mins until we left for the Tender.
We were headed to Monaco (DIY). So, we were not worried about missing any type of excursion. Once we arrived in the tourism office, I made everyone use the WC facilities. My DDs were complaining about the smell in the bathroom, but I just know that these were going to be the nicest ones that we were going to encounter.
After the brief stop, we took our time walking along the water to the the Train Station. No-one seemed to be up and about in the town (This was about 10:30 a.m.). We purchased our tickets at the Station and were notified by all the police and Station officials that pick-pocketers are out in force. They told us to hold on tight to our belongings and make sure that everything is zipped up. 2nd time on our trip when we were told about the issues.
Note: we never encountered any issues previously or during the cruise or any of the port excursions.
Our train ride was about 20 mins. We bumped into the same family from Colorado Springs, CO at the train station. They were so nice. We took the train together until we arrived at Monte Carlo.
They had the Rick Steves’ book and we were just enjoying the sites. It was getting hot and humid.
However, we took the escalator and then walked over to the elevators. Then, walked up the steps and turned left onto the streets. We walked for about 15 mins., took some pics, and then parted ways. Our families had different ideas of our visit which was ok. They were so nice and fun!
Monte Carlo is absolutely gorgeous. It reminded me of Beverly Hills but on steriods and on the water.
Eventually, we found some gelato and the fun began for the DDs. We walked along to more shops that was attached to the Casino. Everyone was smoking so it was hard for us to sit and enjoy the “fresh air”. My DDs and I have asthma so this was not going to work.
We walked along towards the casino and all the shops were closed. So, we continued walking until I found WIFI. Yes, I had to check into work.
Then, we encountered a sign that said “McDonald’s”. Personally, I never eat at McD’s, but I had to see it.
There’s a sign that will point you the way… By the way, the entire town was getting ready for Formula 1 racing.
Inside McD’s, there were electronic kiosk to preorder your food in whatever language you like.
But, we wanted to pay in Euros and to experience the Monte Carlo McD’s way.
So, I ordered an ice tea, bottled water, and chicken nuggets. You would think that I could not go wrong.
I was terribly wrong… the chicken nuggets tasted like cardboard and the ketchup was eek! My DDs took a pic of me, because I never eat at McD’s.
The icetea was not regular. It had a berry taste. I pawned it off to my DD13. My DH ordered a machiatto from the bar. Yes, a espresso bar.
The bathrooms were interesting. Same level around to the left of the elevators. The toilet stalls were dark. There are no paper towels.
Then, off we went to find the bus to get to the Castle. It cost 2 Euros for each person, except my DD10 was free. We were there in 10 mins. Air-conditioned. Nice!
Then, we got off the bus stop and walked up this beautiful path. We decided not to take the stairs, because we wanted to make it the castle with the humid feeling.
Took more pics along the way. Beautiful scenary! We finally got up to the Castle from the bus stop in 20 mins. I felt like that we were participating in Amazing Races! We took some windy narrow streets and finally encountered the Castle. By the way, more beautiful people/couples dining for lunch in the small side cafes/restaurants.
Once we arrived, it was so neat! One thing that stuck out was an addition to the Castle (all in Yellow) that was grey and appeared like a bad Castle addition/renovation.
In front of the Castle was a guard who paced back and forth.
There were the guards and police all around.
We bumped into several
DCL port excursion bus passengers.
We spent approximately 30 mins. here and then off we went to find more gelato and the way back to the train.
Through a passage way and many steps down, DH wanted to go down to the waterfront and back up to the train station. I told him that once we get down there, he won’t be able to get the DDs back up the hill.
So, he said “Why don’t you lead the way!”. We crossed the street and turned left. My GPS wouldn’t work on my SIII. So, I winged it, by turning right into this clean alley/walkway. There’s an entrance to the left that pointed to the trains. I knew that we were very far. It was so hot and humid!
Any shade at this point was very welcomed!
Lo-and-behold! We found the tunnel, marble, air-conditioned with a conveyor walk way. We were the only family down there.
What a nice surprise! It led us back directly to the train station.
BIG TIP: Find the map to the tunnels once you leave the train. It leads directly to the casino and back to the Castle as well as the train station. It's air-conditioned.
The ride back was quiet. Not as many people. It took about 15 mins. and we slowly walked back.
We found another gelato place 2 euros for a scoop on a waffle cone.
Then, back to the tourism office to download more emails and answer work.
Tendering back to the ship was easy.
On a side note, I started to develop an allergic reaction to the recycled/treated water on board as well as the towels. My hands developed a severe case of eczema. So, I recommend those who are as sensitive as myself to request and ask about the chemicals used to treat the water and towels. My hands looked so swollen and so raw. It started to go away as soon as I lathered my hands in vaseline and not use the towels. My body started to get the same reaction. I spoke to the Guest Services. Couldn’t help me with my issue. There was no cortizone on board. Just vaseline (saved my hands). By the way, it all went away as soon as I took a shower in our home in California and next day… 75% back to normal. I have never experienced this before on the DCL especially on the MedCruise (our 2nd with Disney Magic
Ok, back to the ship. We took showers and the DDs were off again with their new friends at the Lab and other shows.
DH and I took some time to take a quick nap and regroup. We met up with our new dining room family. It was so nice to have dinner with them.
After dinner, we left and I forced all the DDs to go straight to bed, because the next day was La Spezia.
Again, we ordered room service to be delivered at 5:30 a.m. and I had put an order out for our clothing to be pressed. Was so great!
By the way, our magnets were starting to disappear. So, I spoke to guest services. They mentioned that it was probably teenagers and they are so sorry.
Lost the magnets that we made our cruise. Our neighbor SR5513 had their FE bag and magnets stolen, too!
So, we left a note on our door to have them returned. We never saw them again. It was sad for the DDs, because they worked so hard.
