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:

 

Mkmommy

Member
Okay, trying SmugMug this time! :)

After we got off the train we walked back to the port.

Many of the walls around the train station were covered in flowers:





The ship is still there! That’s always a good thing.




I love flower pictures.

They are still playing Pitch Perfect? Last March on the fantasy with the on demand movies, my daughter played it ever time we were in the room, that was the only show we watched on TV for a whole week.
 

sweetpee_1993

Well-Known Member
Oh my, Tammy! I could live in Monocco, too! So beautiful! My dad tells some really wild tales of his forrays into Monocco in his younger years. I suppose you get out of it what you look for. The scenery is to die for, the architecture incredible. I'd love to see it someday.

Speaking of seeing something...it's so surreal to see the Magic in your pics. It's so familiar in so many ways yet not because the background is so vastly different. LOL! I can't wait to see the Magic's refit after her drydock, too. As if she's not already our family's favorite of the 3 DCL ships we've sailed... ;)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Great pics! Monaco looks beautiful!

Love the " I speak a little Spanish "

Isn't that funny? We cracked up. :)

I love flower pictures.

They are still playing Pitch Perfect? Last March on the fantasy with the on demand movies, my daughter played it ever time we were in the room, that was the only show we watched on TV for a whole week.

Oh it was definitely still on! We saw parts of it a gazillion times!

Oh my, Tammy! I could live in Monocco, too! So beautiful! My dad tells some really wild tales of his forrays into Monocco in his younger years. I suppose you get out of it what you look for. The scenery is to die for, the architecture incredible. I'd love to see it someday.

Speaking of seeing something...it's so surreal to see the Magic in your pics. It's so familiar in so many ways yet not because the background is so vastly different. LOL! I can't wait to see the Magic's refit after her drydock, too. As if she's not already our family's favorite of the 3 DCL ships we've sailed... ;)

I could totally live there! It's gorgeous!

I think pictures of the ships in different locations are so neat too! So familiar and yet not!

Wow this is so interesting!!!

Thanks, Tare!

Monte Carlo looks so beautiful! Can't wait until you get to Greece!

Greece is amazing, WDW_Princess!

Love that for keeping all your items in looks very handy!

And great food pics Tam, always a fave :joyfull:

I knew you'd like the food, Crush! :)
 

gsrjedi

Well-Known Member
Great report so far. I want to visit Monaco so bad.


Ah man! The pictures are so much smaller on Flick'r!! Whyyyyy!!

Looks like you switched to SmugMug, but for Flickr, when you hit the share button and it brings up the box to copy the HTML/BB code, below that is a drop down menu that lets you choose a size.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
So am I wrong in guessing that I won't be alone in taking food pictures from the Girls' cruise? :p

You will definitely not be alone! :)

Great report so far. I want to visit Monaco so bad.




Looks like you switched to SmugMug, but for Flickr, when you hit the share button and it brings up the box to copy the HTML/BB code, below that is a drop down menu that lets you choose a size.

Monaco is beautiful, gsrjedi!
Now that is good information!!! I never saw the drop down box! I may have to go back and change sizes. Thank you! :)
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Looks like you switched to SmugMug, but for Flickr, when you hit the share button and it brings up the box to copy the HTML/BB code, below that is a drop down menu that lets you choose a size.

I fixed them! Thank you so much, gsrjedi! They may be too big now, lol.
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member


First, thanks for hitting me over the head when I didn't realize that the trip report was up. I'm coming late to this party!

Second, congrats to Chase. And my daughter just graduated in May, as well. So I'm in that boat with you!

Third, holy mother of pearl, Ally looks so grown up!! I'm remember pictures from your Alaska cruise, which wasn't that long ago, but she looks so much more grown up. Scary!

Ok, now going back to catch up with the rest of the report. . .
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Was this the same terminal that they sailed out of in 2007? I have to admit that my memory is fuzzy because I was so sick that day, but your pictures don't look like what I remember of the terminal when we sailed.

Also, was there local entertainment in the waiting area? When we sailed from Barcelona in '07 and also when we sailed from Dover in '10, there was a local group singing or dancing or doing something at the terminal. Did they have that for you guys?

our first stop was Rocking Bar ‘D to try to get our Palo reservations linked up. . . we were set in the private room for dinner.
Ooooo, so jealous! We've never been in the private room!

We saw a couple of people I knew from the boards and a couple of servers we knew.
Which servers did you see? One of the best things about the cruise is when you meet up with old crew members who remember you.
 
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ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
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
I totally would've gone to Guest Services to get my free transfers!! That is too funny.

A Tottenham fan??? Boooooo!! Go Liverpool!!
 

ChuckElias

Well-Known Member
Tammy, your pictures are beautiful and it's amazing how clearly I remember those places in Villefranche from our trip in '07. We took the tender as well, obviously, and a crew member was on the tender with us, and he kept talking about how all he wanted to do in Villefranche was get coffee and crepes at a little shop in town. He raced off the tender ahead of us and by the time we got to where you took this picture, he was seated in the shop just past the "pizza" sign (it may have been the next red awning down the street). Funny those things you remember.



And here's a picture of Molly and my dad on that same street:



I'm sorry the tenders were such a hassle. I don't think our trip in was nearly that long of a wait. Maybe we just waited out the initial rush.

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 remember that beach as well. And here's why. It's clothing optional. As we passed, there was a topless woman standing next to her completely naked young son. So what piece of clothing did she decide was most important to put on? A shirt on her son! LOL. She was still topless and he was still bottomless as we left. For some reason, that just made us laugh all day.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster


First, thanks for hitting me over the head when I didn't realize that the trip report was up. I'm coming late to this party!

Second, congrats to Chase. And my daughter just graduated in May, as well. So I'm in that boat with you!

Third, holy mother of pearl, Ally looks so grown up!! I'm remember pictures from your Alaska cruise, which wasn't that long ago, but she looks so much more grown up. Scary!

Ok, now going back to catch up with the rest of the report. . .

I know, right! I'm amazed at how different she looks from older reports!

I forgot our kids were the same age! It's such a bittersweet time!


Maybe they were...

It should be everyone's tradition if it's not already!

Was this the same terminal that they sailed out of in 2007? I have to admit that my memory is fuzzy because I was so sick that day, but your pictures don't look like what I remember of the terminal when we sailed.

Also, was there local entertainment in the waiting area? When we sailed from Barcelona in '07 and also when we sailed from Dover in '10, there was a local group singing or dancing or doing something at the terminal. Did they have that for you guys?

Ooooo, so jealous! We've never been in the private room!


Which servers did you see? One of the best things about the cruise is when you meet up with old crew members who remember you.

It is the same terminal! I don't think we had live entertainment either time though.

We saw Valentine and my parents saw their server from the Magic in November. There's someone else I'm forgetting...
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I totally would've gone to Guest Services to get my free transfers!! That is too funny.

A Tottenham fan??? Boooooo!! Go Liverpool!!

Wasn't that so funny? I wonder how many other people noticed it.

Tammy, your pictures are beautiful and it's amazing how clearly I remember those places in Villefranche from our trip in '07. We took the tender as well, obviously, and a crew member was on the tender with us, and he kept talking about how all he wanted to do in Villefranche was get coffee and crepes at a little shop in town. He raced off the tender ahead of us and by the time we got to where you took this picture, he was seated in the shop just past the "pizza" sign (it may have been the next red awning down the street). Funny those things you remember.



And here's a picture of Molly and my dad on that same street:



I'm sorry the tenders were such a hassle. I don't think our trip in was nearly that long of a wait. Maybe we just waited out the initial rush.


I remember that beach as well. And here's why. It's clothing optional. As we passed, there was a topless woman standing next to her completely naked young son. So what piece of clothing did she decide was most important to put on? A shirt on her son! LOL. She was still topless and he was still bottomless as we left. For some reason, that just made us laugh all day.

That is funny how those memories come back to you. I love that picture! Same spot alright! We missed the clothing optional bathers though! Especially the ones who found some clothing more important than others, lol!

Mad love for the mushroom risotto!!

Hate the shrimp cheesecake. All cheesecake and 3 tiny shrimp. Bleh!

The shrimp cheesecake was not very popular in our group either!
 

WishIWasAtWDW

Well-Known Member
I'm finally caught up on your trip report! Woo hoo! :D Your trip sounds amazing so far and it has only just begun! Your pictures are FABULOUS! GORGEOUS! On just about every picture I find myself saying, "I want to go to there." I can't wait to read more!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I'm finally caught up on your trip report! Woo hoo! :D Your trip sounds amazing so far and it has only just begun! Your pictures are FABULOUS! GORGEOUS! On just about every picture I find myself saying, "I want to go to there." I can't wait to read more!

Thank you, Ashley! It was definitely amazing!! :)
 

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