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:

 

TrolleyFollower91

Well-Known Member
Yay! Another Tammy Trip Report :D. The Med cruise is on my bucket list so I can't wait to hear your thoughts on your second venture! As always, the pictures are gorgeous- keep them coming!!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Thanks for sharing your reports. Can't believe your son graduated!! Seems like yesterday that we were reading reports when he was just a boy. Tell him congratulations!!

I can't believe it either!! Thank you very much! :)

Love the pictures of London!

Did you decide to not upgrade the stateroom(s)?

They were full when we arrived. It really was for the best. :)

Yay! Another Tammy Trip Report :D. The Med cruise is on my bucket list so I can't wait to hear your thoughts on your second venture! As always, the pictures are gorgeous- keep them coming!!

Thank you, TrolleyFollower! My thoughts are very very positive! More coming soon! :)
 

dnylla

New Member
Great start to your trip report. I love the little reese's graduation caps, whoever came up with that was brilliant.

London's one of my favorite places to visit-glad to see you got to spend some time there twice this trip. I'm looking forward to seeing everything you did there (after enjoying your cruise of course :D) and I have to admit I'm a bit concerned about what is ahead for your mom. I'm hoping it is good, but sweetpee's comment has me a little concerned... I'm sure whatever it is makes a great story for her to tell
 

mvelez15

New Member
Ok I have never been really interested in DCL but after just a few days of you report and some of the pictures I have seen in the DCL pic of the day thread, I am can not wait to go on one, specifically the Alaskan one.
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
Tammy report! Yay! I'm kind of late to it, but better late than never.

Your London pictures had me drooling. Oh my goodness. I can't wait to visit London one day. And I look forward to the second London installment.

Loving the pictures so far :) Those toesies are world travelers!
 
I got about halfway there and realized –I FORGOT MY CAMERA!!

What on earth? It was like a recurring nightmare I have about being somewhere with the most amazing Kodak moments and my camera not working. :eek:

I was quite amused by the driver’s voice on the metro. Partly because of the awesome English accent of course, but also because they were so polite!! In D.C. if you do something stupid, the driver is going to berate you, threaten your freedom, and perhaps ask you to get off.

In London someone opened the doors between the cars while the trains were moving. The driver came on and said (you have to read this in a very refined awesome accent or it doesn't work), “Please please do not open the doors between the cars while the train is moving. It’s just really not safe! It’s really not! Thank you.”

:)

This. And This. :)

Oh, and YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE the TR I have been waiting for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Aw, that stinks! But I'm glad it worked out

It was fine! We were happy with where we booked. :)

Great start to your trip report. I love the little reese's graduation caps, whoever came up with that was brilliant.

London's one of my favorite places to visit-glad to see you got to spend some time there twice this trip. I'm looking forward to seeing everything you did there (after enjoying your cruise of course :D) and I have to admit I'm a bit concerned about what is ahead for your mom. I'm hoping it is good, but sweetpee's comment has me a little concerned... I'm sure whatever it is makes a great story for her to tell

Aren't those adorable? I agree, they were brilliant.

We loved our days in London after the cruise too. It's such a great city.

My poor mom. Yep, it got rough! But it is quite the story now!

Ok I have never been really interested in DCL but after just a few days of you report and some of the pictures I have seen in the DCL pic of the day thread, I am can not wait to go on one, specifically the Alaskan one.

Mvelez15! You have to try it! Have you seen my Alaska trip report? It is definitely one of our favorite itineraries.

Tammy report! Yay! I'm kind of late to it, but better late than never.

Your London pictures had me drooling. Oh my goodness. I can't wait to visit London one day. And I look forward to the second London installment.

Loving the pictures so far :) Those toesies are world travelers!

You're not that late!

You need to go to London! Definitely! My toeses did go all over!

This. And This. :)

Oh, and YIPPPPPPPEEEEEEEEEE the TR I have been waiting for!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yippeee!! I'll put more up today!! :)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were looking at the Navigator before going up to the lifeboat drill and noticed something. Read this:



Oops!! Methinks someone forgot to proofread the Navigators! We thought about going and demanding our bus transfers to WDW. :D

Our lifeboat station was in the shade thank goodness.





As we were going out to the party, we interrupted someone putting some gifts in our Fish Extender. They gave us great streamers and laurel wreaths. We put them on and headed upstairs!

It's almost party time!



See our cute new headwear?







 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
When we started moving we walked to the side to see the sights.









The actual sail away was fairly impressive as the Captain did a complete turn around inside the narrow passage.




It really looked like we were going to hit the side form some angles. I’m sure Captain Robert had it all under control though.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Check out all the white cars!
















As we walked behind the basketball goal to the other side, we passed some giant vents. Before I knew it, my streamer and the stick it was attached to were sucked out of my pocket and into the vent! Ack!! I was afraid I broke the ship!! :eek: Thankfully part of the stick stuck and I could get it all back out. :)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We went back to our room and freshened up for dinner after that. Our first dinner was in Lumiere’s. Our servers were named Plamen and Meisa. They were both wonderful. Plamen seemed a little nervous and overeager to please at times, but he loosened up over the trip and we really liked him a lot. Plamen was from Bulgaria. He brought us extra appetizers and desserts every night to try. I love that!

Meisa was a snowboarder from Indonesia and he was one of the best assistant servers we’ve had. We never wanted for drinks and they never tasted like they’d been sitting out so long that the ice had watered them down. I hate that! He was also super personable and friendly.

Let the eating Magic begin!





I had steak:



Actually I had steak 10 out of 12 nights I think.:D

Someone had shrimp:



Here’s what my 18 year old, recent high school graduate had for dinner most nights:



Yes that is two kids meals of pizza and fries. :) Plamen brought him veggies every night too, but trust me, they were never touched.
 
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Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Every night Plamen brought out a few of the sampler trios as we were trying to decide what to have for dessert. It really helped with the decision!



Of course my fall back was always a Mickey bar!



I forgot who had these:





The waters that first day and night were amazing. We kept saying at dinner that it didn’t even feel like we had left the dock they were so smooth. I also enjoy itineraries where I can see land most of the time. Not because I’m nervous, just because I like the change of scenery. It was one of the things we loved about our Alaska sailing. We could see land for a lot of this one too.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The kids left with my inlaws to go through the shops after dinner. When we came out the line was short for Matador Mickey! Yay!





Mickey made kissing sounds when we hugged. It kind of threw me! I think I liked it though! :)

Stephen apparently missed the memo for the cute pose.



Mom loves Mickey!







After seeing Mickey we walked through the shops and then went to the Welcome Aboard show. For some reason there was only one variety act that night and the show finished early. The variety act was a singing/stomp type act. I didn’t know what to expect, but they were good!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We were too tired to do anything else after the show and went back to the room. Here’s our door decoration for this trip!



Dad and Mom’s door:



In-laws door:



Fish Extender!



Room was turned down and we had gifts!



Look at these wonderful coasters Disney gave everyone! They weighed a ton!



And a print:





Here’s an invitation for Chase to the 18-21 social. He declined:



The kids went out and didn’t come back until 11 or so that night. I was sleeping so soundly that I didn’t hear them at all. In fact the next morning I woke up worried that they hadn’t come back.

Parent fail.

Monaco is up next! Thanks for reading! :)
 

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