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!
Lovin your TR Tammy!!!

Your waiters sound awesome and i love the idea of bringing out the samplers so you could try decide what to have fir dessert!

And loving thise coasters are they available to buy ??

And hey spotted the Clinton Dempsey jersey, he has since moved back to the US to play in The MLS again of course!

And hey that navigator is a keeper!!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Its a tough task but someone has to do it haha

Exactly! Haha! :)
Lovin your TR Tammy!!!

Your waiters sound awesome and i love the idea of bringing out the samplers so you could try decide what to have fir dessert!

And loving thise coasters are they available to buy ??

And hey spotted the Clinton Dempsey jersey, he has since moved back to the US to play in The MLS again of course!

And hey that navigator is a keeper!!

Yes, I loved the samplers too! It was brilliant.

I didn't see the coasters for sale, but they may have been waiting until after our sailing.

If I had a dollar for everytime Clint Dempsey's name was mentioned in my house yesterday I could book another Med cruise tomorrow. Let's just say the excitement level was high. :)

Did you order your FE from Etsy? It looks VERY similar to the one we ordered!! Same pattern just different colors! :)

Loving the TR so far! All that food looks sooooo good!! That Greece swag is pretty neat, too!

It was ebay several years ago! Could be the same person though.
Loved the Greece swag! :)

Matador Mickey is sooo cute!! Can't wait to see if there are any other outfits

Oh there are! The character costumes on the Med cruise are awesome!

Loving your report! Just noticed the seven horns in your pic. Must be for the seven pitches of "When You Wish Upon a Star."

Good catch, DznyRktekt! I never noticed that!

I would imagine this cruise itinerary could be on Fractal's bucket list.

It should be! :)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Okay, I finished a few more photos, sorry to piecemeal this out! :D But let’s at least start day 4! Our first port!

Day 4: Monaco

Oh my word, I love Monaco. It is stunningly beautiful to me. We docked in Villefranche which is a short train ride away.

Today my in-laws and brother-in-law were going on a Disney sightseeing excursion. We were just planning on taking the train to Monte Carlo and Nice afterwards.

It was Father’s Day today! Stephen woke up early to go run and dropped off cards in the Dad’s fish extenders. My Dad didn't notice his until dinner! Bad child award.

We had ordered room service the night before. I woke up fairly early too so I was ready in plenty of time.

I decided I should probably get some Euros since I was down to about 10. :) About two weeks before we left, our United card sent us something saying they were no longer charging foreign transaction fees. I can’t tell you how convenient that was! I didn’t have to worry about charging anything from a $2 coke to a whole meal. So we didn’t need that much foreign currency overall. I exchanged $100 cash at guest services for Euros.

The neat thing about exchanging Euros on the ship is that if you end up with extra at the end, they’ll change it back at the same rate you originally got it. You just have to keep your receipt.

After guest services I walked out on deck 4 to see the sights:




http://s106.photobucket.com/user/ta...e Day 3/MedCruiseDay3001_zps59dc1967.jpg.html





http://s106.photobucket.com/user/ta...e Day 3/MedCruiseDay3006_zps643c69af.jpg.html
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Tenders are here!



I met up with everyone outside the Buena Vista theater and we went in to wait for our tender.



And we waited. And waited. Here’s Sheree waiting to call the next group.



Sheree was there to entertain us and she did a very good job! But…

I have a new goal in life. No complaining! I was trying to live up to my new goal on this trip, but it was hard in this room. We waited an hour and 15 minutes for our turn and we were among the first 100 or so people in the room. Considering the tenders held 250 and they were running multiple tenders, there was really no reason for this.

After they called 10 -20 people at a time for about 30 minutes, it dawned on us what was taking so long.

They were filling the tenders with people on Disney excursions. We were just filling in the left over seats.

So. Not. Cool.

Not cool, Disney.

There, I’ve got my complaining out. :p



But we’re finally out! Yay!

On the tender:



Mom still looks pretty good here!

 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Cruise director Peter is looking a little stressed at the tender situation. He knew he was going to have some unhappy passengers:



Tenders always offer unique views of the ship. Too bad the sky was so overcast:





I love Villefranche. It’s so picturesque.





See you later, Magic!



I wish I had stopped for some more pictures but I knew everyone was anxious by this time. I thought I would stop at the end of the day and get some.



That didn’t really happen.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
The walk to the train station is pretty easy. You basically go right out of the terminal and hug the water. The station is across the street, and up some stairs, from the beach:











I kept wondering where Stephen was when I was looking back at these pictures. I'm normally the last one in the group. Partly because my legs are short :D, but mostly because I stop to take pictures. Then I remembered, on this trip he was stopping too, and taking pictures with his iphone!

Works for me!





 

tnemgif

Well-Known Member
That's a bummer about missing the train due to the tenders. Thankfully, Villefranche doesn't look like a bad place to be stuck in!

Loving the report so far - thanks for sharing :)
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member

Tammy, you took a picture of someone's ratty socks and drawers. Fabulous!

Seriously still cringing whenever you mention, "Mom still looks okay."

I would've been spitting mad about the tender situation, too. I guess the majority of the ship had booked excursions. Still, that's insane to wait that long!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
That's a bummer about missing the train due to the tenders. Thankfully, Villefranche doesn't look like a bad place to be stuck in!

Loving the report so far - thanks for sharing :)

You're absolutely right, I'm glad we had time to walk around Villefranche! It was quite lovely! :)

Tammy, you took a picture of someone's ratty socks and drawers. Fabulous!

Seriously still cringing whenever you mention, "Mom still looks okay."

I would've been spitting mad about the tender situation, too. I guess the majority of the ship had booked excursions. Still, that's insane to wait that long!

I did! Haha! If they're going to hang them out there, then they are at risk for pictures! Haha!

I know. It's coming.

It was maddening. Really maddening.

I love this picture of Ally. It's really a great shot. Love the graffiti shot. Why? Disney point!!!!

I love this picture too!

And you're right! Disney point!! Haha!
 

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