Trip Report Our 19-Day Mediterranean Adventure – Greece, Turkey and the Search for Free Wifi

Finally, right? It seems like I’ve been waiting forever to start this, but really we’ve only been back three weeks! And in that time I’ve lived in a hotel for two weeks and driven across the country from Washington DC to our new home in...wait for it...Las Vegas! For some reason I have chosen now, surrounded by boxes that need to be unpacked, as the time to start my trip report. Stalling maybe? :D So here it goes!

What: A massive 19 day (13 days on the cruise with 6 more including travel time and extra days in Europe) trip extravaganza. A 12 night Mediterranean cruise with a day in London beforehand and a few days in London and Barcelona afterwards. So yes. This is going to be a long stinking trip report. Oh, and I took 5239 pictures. On my camera! That doesn’t even count the Instagram/iphone photos you’ll see scattered throughout the report.

Great day in the morning.

Why: Because cruises are awesome mostly. But also because I was able to do a last-minute 11 night Med cruise back in April of 2010 with my daughter and some other family and friends, so this was a makeup cruise for my son and husband. It worked nicely as a graduation trip/present. :)

When: June 13-July 1, 2013

I booked this cruise the day it came out, back in January of 2012.

As time got closer we realized it was going to get crazy. My daughter was going to have to miss the last day of school, my son was graduating from high school the Saturday before the trip, we had a house full of family that whole weekend and a big graduation party on Sunday, he then left and was coming home one day early from his senior trip to make it on time, and we were moving across the country to Las Vegas so our household goods were all moved the day before we left. Then the kids were traveling with their youth group to Scotland 3 days after the cruise ended, so it really didn’t make sense for us to come all the way back home and we needed to stay in Europe for three more days before we dropped them off in London Heathrow. Got all that? Yes. Like I said, a little crazy.

Totally worth it though. :)

Who: Us! Here we are a few days before we left! This picture is a celebration of the whole Whiting family – but mostly Chase. The high school graduate. Also appearing in this photo are myself-Tammy, hubby-Stephen, and daughter – Ally.



My parents! My parents were on our last Med cruise, and have been in several of my trip reports. They had quite the trip in store for them. Here they are in Monaco:



My in-laws! My in-laws were also on my last Med cruise, as well as a few other cruises with us, so they may look familiar if you've ever read one of my reports. Here they are in Palo:



My brother-in-law! Scott has appeared in a few trip cruise trip reports as well. He’s the oldest of three boys with my hubby falling in the middle. Here he is in Mykonos:

 

Crush Dude!

Back from WDW!Counting down to DLP in November!
Dinner!











Look, I had a steak! I'm sure no one would have guessed!



Someone had turkey:



Dessert!





Mesa brought Ally hot chocolate and she was happy.



We decided to go watch Iron Man 3 instead of Twice Charmed tonight. I really liked it!

After that it was bed time! We had to rest up for another sea day the next day!

More great posts, love the shots of the water! Looks like a great sea day all round :D
 

Crush Dude!

Back from WDW!Counting down to DLP in November!
Well not many! Greece didn't even do it in the end! I'm sure we could have found places to do it, we just didn't want to take the time when we were in ports.

Had a feeling that would be the case, oh well!

It's very handy! That way you can know what you want when you get to the re-booking desk. :)

Yeo exactly what i plan on doing :D
 

lbrad

Well-Known Member
Beautiful pictures of Rome!! What a great day. I will get there someday *sigh
Your family is GORGEOUS! <3 the photos of everyone on formal Night ... so glad to see your mom made it :0
Loving this TR!!

P.S. Thank you again for booking our Palo Ressie & Atlantis excursion.
You are AWESOME!!! 89 days :)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
More great posts, love the shots of the water! Looks like a great sea day all round :D

It was! We had super calm seas every day except the last one.

Yeo exactly what i plan on doing :D

:)

Someone went on 60 cruises??? :jawdrop:

Yes! 60!

Beautiful pictures of Rome!! What a great day. I will get there someday *sigh
Your family is GORGEOUS! <3 the photos of everyone on formal Night ... so glad to see your mom made it :0
Loving this TR!!

P.S. Thank you again for booking our Palo Ressie & Atlantis excursion.
You are AWESOME!!! 89 days :)

Ahh thank you, Lisa!
You are so welcome. 89 days! Woo hoo!
 

PartOfYourWorld

Well-Known Member
Tammy! Finally got around to reading your trip report! That's all I did for the last hour and a half! But I did it!

I just have to say your pictures look BEAUTIFUL. I have determined that before Mike and I have kids we need to do an international Disney cruise to explore the different areas of the world...still have that Disney magic but something different too!!! :) Okay so Disneyland and International Cruise.....hmmmm better start saving! LOL.

I loved the first place you stopped (I'm determined not to butcher names so I won't type them LOL) the city just looked so colorful!!!!!!

And tell Ally I LOVE her dress she wore for formal night!!!!

You guys are such a cute family I love reading about your adventures! And this cruise is awesome!!!!!!!!!!! Making me more excited for ours too in less than 2 weeks now!!! AAHHH. Gotta hurry up and finish this one Tammy! Looking forward to more!!! :)
 

angieandtrevor

Active Member
I was reading the posts about Rome and how hot it was and I couldn't understand why half of you were dressed like you were heading to the North Pole. I couldn't imagine that seasoned travelers would overlook the weather, I had completely forgotten about the rules at the Vatican so it all makes sense now :) The pictures in Rome have been my favorite so far.....wow and WOW !!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tammy! Finally got around to reading your trip report! That's all I did for the last hour and a half! But I did it!

I just have to say your pictures look BEAUTIFUL. I have determined that before Mike and I have kids we need to do an international Disney cruise to explore the different areas of the world...still have that Disney magic but something different too!!! :) Okay so Disneyland and International Cruise.....hmmmm better start saving! LOL.

I loved the first place you stopped (I'm determined not to butcher names so I won't type them LOL) the city just looked so colorful!!!!!!

And tell Ally I LOVE her dress she wore for formal night!!!!

You guys are such a cute family I love reading about your adventures! And this cruise is awesome!!!!!!!!!!! Making me more excited for ours too in less than 2 weeks now!!! AAHHH. Gotta hurry up and finish this one Tammy! Looking forward to more!!! :)

An hour and a half! Goodness gracious! Lol
You do need to try it. You guys would love it so much.
Monaco! Yes! I love Monaco!
Thank you, I will tell her! I loved that dress too. I bought it from White House Black Market when she wasn't with me and you never know how that will work with a teenager! :)
Next Saturday!! Not this Saturday, next Saturday!! Woo hoo!! I'm racing to get done with this!

I was reading the posts about Rome and how hot it was and I couldn't understand why half of you were dressed like you were heading to the North Pole. I couldn't imagine that seasoned travelers would overlook the weather, I had completely forgotten about the rules at the Vatican so it all makes sense now :) The pictures in Rome have been my favorite so far.....wow and WOW !!

The North Pole! Lol!!
I should have pointed the Vatican dress code out first. My shirt was very thin and my jeans were so loose I thought I'd be okay, but no!!! I should have brought something to change into like we brought for Ally.
Thank you, Angie. :)
 

ejsanta13

Active Member
An hour and a half! Goodness gracious! Lol
You do need to try it. You guys would love it so much.
Monaco! Yes! I love Monaco!
Thank you, I will tell her! I loved that dress too. I bought it from White House Black Market when she wasn't with me and you never know how that will work with a teenager! :)
Next Saturday!! Not this Saturday, next Saturday!! Woo hoo!! I'm racing to get done with this!



The North Pole! Lol!!
I should have pointed the Vatican dress code out first. My shirt was very thin and my jeans were so loose I thought I'd be okay, but no!!! I should have brought something to change into like we brought for Ally.
Thank you, Angie. :)



Love the pics and I miss Italy so much. Your photo's definitely brought me back. I can't believe that you were able to do the Colleseum, Trevi, Pantheon and Vatican in that amount of time. You absolutely need to go back and spend 3 or 4 days in Rome. The artwork in some of the smaller churches would make museums in the US jealous. So much to do, see and take in. Oh yeah, and EAT!!!! Ah, gelato, how I miss thee..
Great TR. Making me want to go on a Mediteranian Cruise. Can't wait to read the rest!!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Love the pics and I miss Italy so much. Your photo's definitely brought me back. I can't believe that you were able to do the Colleseum, Trevi, Pantheon and Vatican in that amount of time. You absolutely need to go back and spend 3 or 4 days in Rome. The artwork in some of the smaller churches would make museums in the US jealous. So much to do, see and take in. Oh yeah, and EAT!!!! Ah, gelato, how I miss thee..
Great TR. Making me want to go on a Mediteranian Cruise. Can't wait to read the rest!!

We did get a lot done!! I would so love to spend a few days in Rome. I could explore forever. And EAT! :)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Day 8: Sea Day

Today was another sea day today! Yay! I love the ports on a Med cruise, but it’s so nice to have some days to do nothing if we wanted.

Believe it or not though, I got up at 5:35! 5:35! Goodness gracious. There was a reason though - a sunrise photo meet up with a group from another board. I wasn’t sure I wanted to wake up, but I laid out some clothes the night before and decided to play it by ear.

I rolled over around 5:30, looked at the clock and decided – why not?

So I got up, threw on some clothes and went on upstairs.

It was cool, if not spectacular, and definitely worth getting up for.







Here it comes!





Little peek!









And wait! What is this?



Now that’s a sunrise. :)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
While we stood there with our cameras, a couple came and stood next to us. The guy had all kinds of photo tips for us. Even when they weren’t necessarily asked for? They had apparently not been to bed yet.





After the sun finally rose, I walked around and took a few more pictures.

















 
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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Then I grabbed some breakfast because I’d been up for like 2 hours already!



I went back to the room after that, crawled into bed around 7:45 and slept until 10. :)

Ally and I went to see Chimpanzee after we both got up. I really enjoyed it. I got a lot done this morning!

When we stopped back in the room, Stephen said my dad was looking for me. He said mom had a rough night and they were finally accepting that she needed help and going to medical.

I went to their room to check on them. Dad was there, but mom was in the clinic sleeping. They finally knew what was wrong! She had –

Pneumonia!!! :(:(:(

I was in shock! I, mistakenly, thought pneumonia developed from a cold or other illness and she hadn’t been sick at all before day 3 of the cruise. They had hooked her up to an IV drip for an hour. The doctor, also mistakenly, told her she should feel better in 24 hours or so.

I was so sad for her! But so glad we knew what it was!
 

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