Our first cruise - DIY Disney Magic round the Med (31st May - 7th June)

[DISGRL13]

Thanks for sharing your trip with all of us!! Love seeing your pictures and hearing about your trip. We are going on the Magic at the end of July.

 

[Peppermintangel]

After our flubber making adventures, it was time to make our way to Animators Palate for our show dinner.

Unfortunately we were positioned so DD and I had our backs to the screen, but she was happy to sit the other way around to watch - we all enjoyed trying to guess which characters were being drawn!



We were too busy watching the screens and I forgot to take many pictures of the food, but I had the black truffle pasta purseittes, Lemon-thyme marinated chicken breast and the white chocolate fudge cheesecake - again, all delicious! DD had the childrens burger, fries and vegetables and OH had chicken and fries (here's the couple of photos I remembered to take!)





The whole show was brilliant - especially the appearance of sorcerer Mickey and we thoroughly enjoyed our evening in AP.





We spotted Goofy (scheduled) and Rapunzel (not) on our way out, so stopped for a couple of meet and greets

We then headed off to the D Lounge to watch some of the Family Karaoke (we heard Let it Go a LOT )

The evenings entertainment was Maleficent in the Walt Disney Theatre which we decided to miss out on (didn't think DD would enjoy it) and had ourselves another (fairly) early night - we were back in the room by 9pm and, again, DD fell straight asleep.

I think I went for another late night wander around the ship whilst OH babysat and took some pizza and cokes back for a late night snack!

 

[Peppermintangel]

Tuesday 3rd June (La Spezia)

After researching a few different options, we went with a visit to Porto Venere today - it was a lovely little town and would recommend a trip if anyone is undecided of where to go from La Spezia

There were a couple of ferries from LS to PV in the morning and we went for the slightly later one at 11.15am. We were unsure how long it would take to get from the port to the ferry dock and left earlier than we needed to (it ended up being a 10 minute walk, so could have left around 10.50am, but we were off the ship by just after 10am after a leisurely breakfast at Cabanas)

Leaving the ship, you go through the cruise terminal where you can buy your ferry tickets to Porto Venere or the Cinque Terre (I think there were also stands where you could book tours to Pisa or Florence if needed)



The ferry was about 30 minutes each way and cost 8 euros return for an adult and under 6s were free. I would definitely recommend DIYing if you want to go to Porto Venere or the Cinque Terre as getting to the ferry port was so quick and easy - a 10 minute walk along here (and we passed an ice cream stand on our way - couldn't resist!):



The Magic from our ferry:

 

[debsters41]

I love your updates!

 

[Peppermintangel]

It was just after 12pm when we were off the ferry and had a quick look around - the view was amazing, a lovely little fishing town with beautiful, colourful houses around the harbour.



We had planned to eat lunch out today (the other days we were happy with an ice cream to keep us going and waiting until back on the ship to eat) and there were plenty of little restaurants along the harbour front to choose from. They all had menus outside and we went for one with bruschetta pizzas with all sorts of wonderful toppings - I went for one with potatoes, pesto and green beans and it was amazing! DD had some of mine and some fries and OH went for a sandwich (though I can't remember what was in it)





The food was brilliant and the bill came to around 25 euros for the three of us, including cokes and a water.

After our meal, we decided to walk along the harbour to St Peter's Church, there were lots of large rocks alongside the path and DD enjoyed clambering all over them!

 

[Alohagirl73]

Great updates. Really love how you DIY at the ports. That's what we plan to do in the Baltics so nice to see another family doing it with a small child.

 

[Peppermintangel]

The church was right at the end of the pathway, looking out into the Gulf of Poets and the views were breathtaking - certainly worth a walk up to







Leaving the church, we walked through the main street and bought, yup - you guessed it - some more ice creams!





Walking back to the harbour and enjoyed the sunshine, we spotted a small beach and stopped for a paddle. OH was getting a bit too warm at this point, but just near the beach were some benches in the shade, so he was happy to sit there and read whilst DD and I played on the beach and in the water for 30 minutes or so

Again the water was lovely and warm, and there were only 4 or 5 others on the beach with us (I'd imagine it'd get fairly busy in July/August as it's only a small area - but perfect for DD to have a play in the sand)

 

[Peppermintangel]

Great updates. Really love how you DIY at the ports. That's what we plan to do in the Baltics so nice to see another family doing it with a small child.

thank you with lots of research beforehand we found it really easy to do - though we did stick within 30 minutes of our ports and didn't try anything too complicated with DD!!

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

Question - did the taxi that took you to the port have a car seat available or was that a non-issue? I've read that they are strict in Barcelona about car seats and that it's better to reserve a car ahead of time, etc etc so just curious.

Thanks![/QUOT

Hi there.
I was on the same cruise as this lovely family (CJ - it's Holly!!), and when our driver picked us up from the airport in Barcelona, she had a booster seat in the car for my 9 1/2 year old! My daughter looked at that thing like it was a 2 headed monster). That said, no taxi required it but we only rode in a taxi twice (hotel to port, hotel to airport).

Hope this helps!

 

[mrslfc]

Porto Venere looks great, this is the one port we are still undecided about what to do so will defiantly look into this a bit more!

Really enjoying your trip report cant wait to read more

 

[Stinkerbell1973]

This is fantastic so far!! I am so enjoying reliving the trip but seeing the ports you saw! That sweet baby is too darn precious. Maddie just said yesterday that she missed her.

 

[Peppermintangel]

This is fantastic so far!! I am so enjoying reliving the trip but seeing the ports you saw! That sweet baby is too darn precious. Maddie just said yesterday that she missed her.

Thank you We miss Maddie (and everyone else!) too! Can't believe it went so quickly!

Loved that there were so many amazing places to go from the ports of call that even though we were all traveling on the same ship - we could visit such different places!

 

[Peppermintangel]

Porto Venere looks great, this is the one port we are still undecided about what to do so will defiantly look into this a bit more!

Really enjoying your trip report cant wait to read more

http://portovenere.a-turist.com/index.php was great for timetables etc to get to PV - it was our favourite place we visited. No where near as busy as Capri and plenty to see (there's also a castle you can visit that we didn't get to).

Just a lovely, relaxing day and easy (and cheap) to get to

 

[Peppermintangel]

After our beach stop, it was near enough time to catch our ferry back. There was a little bit of a delay going back - the ferry actually left about 15 minutes later than the timetabled time, but we were in no rush so it wasn't too bad.

DD loved the ferry ride there and back - we sat outside at the back and she was entranced by the waves for the full 30 minutes!



We had a quick walk back as we'd planned to go to Story Time with Belle in open house in the club and made it back onboard just in time to join in



(Today's navigator)

It was a nice session - I sat in DDs eyeline, at the edge of the room and she felt comfortable enough to sit with the other children in front of Belle (she's fairly shy when it comes to things like this so I was pleased she enjoyed it on her own). Belle came in to read her story to the children and we even bumped into her in the corridor afterwards when waiting for OH to meet us





She had a little chat with DD and said that she'd seen her listening to her story in the club.

We then had around half an hour before "Once Upon a Time" in open house - which was again a storytime session and one of the CMs told us that Tiana would be coming to read a story. We had just enough time to go down to the atrium and queue for a Goofy meet & greet before going back up to the kids club to see Tiana



Again, it was very similar to Story Time with Belle - Tiana came in and read her story to the children, she got them to do some shouting out and DD enjoyed it

 

[mrslfc]

http://portovenere.a-turist.com/index.php was great for timetables etc to get to PV - it was our favourite place we visited. No where near as busy as Capri and plenty to see (there's also a castle you can visit that we didn't get to).

Just a lovely, relaxing day and easy (and cheap) to get to

Thanks so much for all the info

 

[Peppermintangel]

After the kids club, we had a little bit of time to pass before Cabanas opened for the buffet that evening - so we went to relax on Deck 4



I just loved spending time here - it was mostly really quiet and gave DD plenty of space to run up and down the deck

Tonight was the first night we decided to skip the MDR and we did enjoy the opportunity to have a quick meal (I did think that I'd read Cabanas was waiter service only in the evenings - however we had a mixture of buffet evenings and waiter service evening, it was noted on the Navigator which type it was that night. Not sure if this is new, or perhaps just for the Med cruises...)



The buffet evenings seemed to have pretty much the same selections as lunch - I went for noodles & pastas. No pics of OHs or DDs plates so can't remember what they had!

we were in and out within an hour and headed off to the D Lounge to watch the early show of Who Wants to be a Mouseketeer



There was a fair bit of some of the CMs trying to "B" really helpful and I think all but one of the contestants went away with the trophy We didn't get picked, but it was a fun 45 minutes watching - again DD liked getting involved and answering what she could

Tonights show was Walt Disney: The Dream Goes On, which we didn't go to. They had an 18+ evening show of Once Upon a Song at 10.30pm which I went to whilst OH stayed to babysit.



Again I'd read a bit about this before we went - a few people saying children were bored (yet this was the only performance and it was 18+ so I presume that's changed since it was last on) and people saying they didn't really like it - I did! I thought it was good fun - some very powerful voices singing song of my favourite Disney songs, what's not to like!!

I was sat on the front row, by myself and did get picked to dance up at the front with one of the male singers (whilst he sang Kiss the Girl) which was quite possibly one of the most embarrassing moments I'd had!!

If you are interested in watching a concert-style performance of several Disney songs, then I'd recommend it (but it is just that, a few cheesy lines inbetween songs, very little set decoration and a handful of costume changes)

 

[Peppermintangel]

Wednesday 4th June - Civitavecchia

We weren't interested in visiting Rome on this cruise (I've already been and I think it would be too long a day for DD, who is probably too young to appreciate it anyway!)

The plan was to stay on the ship most of the day - but take the shuttle bus into Civitavecchia at some point and see if we could find a beach or something for an hour or so.

Today's Navigator:



We had a bit of a lie in this morning and went for breakfast in Cabanas around half 9 - it was nice and quiet and we all enjoyed mickey waffles!



We planned to do Mouseketeer training (Oceaneers Club - Open House) at 10.30am so just enjoyed the quietness of the ship until then!



Mouseketeer Training was another good kids club session - the CM did a few bits with the children (they had to freeze when he did Mickey Ears, played a game of guess the Disney character when given clues and making batons), Mickey then came in towards the end to see what the children had been learning and took them on a march around the club (to the Mickey Mouse Club March) DD loved any opportunity to see Mickey so, again, it was worth going to for us - it's probably geared towards her age (4 years) and not much older though

 

[debsters41]

Love the picture of the empty ship! I am sorely tempted to stay on board that day... After all, it isn't that hard for me to visit Italy from here in Greece.

 

[Alohagirl73]

Wonderful updates!!! Love the picture of the gelato. Yum!!!

The picture of your daughter and Belle was too precious. My 3 year old actually looked at the screen and loved it too.

How weird to see a completely empty ship. Must have been nice!

 

[Mickeymouseisking]

Thanks for taking the time to write this amazing trip report!
I'm really enjoying reading it and I'm totally jealous of the magical alone time you got with Mickey!

My husband and I are considering a Disney cruise for my 30th birthday. We love participating in onboard activities, and in most trip reports people spend the day by the pool, so your trip report is extra helpful. I was wondering if the daytime activities for the whole family are meant to be enjoyed by adults too or they're really meant more as opportunities for parents to be with their kids? Would we be the only childless couple in these activities? Are the activities actually for kids? (Trivia, dance lessons, become iron man etc...). Thanks!