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!
Loving this TR Tammy!

VillaFrance is my fave port and it was great to see some if the more quiet spots!
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
You can load the pictures straight onto your report without using any other site to store them.

http://forums.wdwmagic.com/threads/...y-to-the-forum-without-a-photo-service.870624

Thanks, Nero! I used to do that, but ran out of room quickly there. I wonder if we have more room now?

Loving this TR Tammy!

VillaFrance is my fave port and it was great to see some if the more quiet spots!

Thanks, Chris! I really really like Villefranche. I used to mainly like it because it was a gateway to Monaco, but now that I've had time to explore, I like it even more.

Love SmugMug! I switched over to SmugMug while doing my report from May (was on Photobucket). And I love it. So easy and the images come up so nicely.

I've got a SmugMug account. Maybe I should start using that.

That's Stade Louis II where AS Monaco play...good eye Chase!

I knew you would know, Bill! :)
 

Disney_Belle

Well-Known Member
I've got a SmugMug account. Maybe I should start using that.

Give it a try. I love how clean and organized it keeps things. And the quality is so much better. When I posted my May trip report the first day of pictures is uploaded from PB, the rest from SmugMug and I don't know about anyone else, but could see a difference in quality.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
Give it a try. I love how clean and organized it keeps things. And the quality is so much better. When I posted my May trip report the first day of pictures is uploaded from PB, the rest from SmugMug and I don't know about anyone else, but could see a difference in quality.

Thanks, Jess! I'll try that for the next batch.
 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
I wasn’t quite done posting pictures when we realized the next tender was about to leave. We didn’t want to sit for another one, so we jumped up and ran! Made it!



We went back to the room and decided it was a good time to get some laundry done. I tend to avoid laundry (or anything that remotely resembles housework) on vacation, but laundry on this long of a cruise is essential. Unfortunately it is for everyone else also, so it can be a pain finding open washers. When many people are still in port is a good time, and we did find some.

We dropped ours off and went up top for a snack! :)

I’m a sandwich and wrap person. I like them so much, I like them even when they’re full of stuff I don’t like! It makes no sense. So here’s my ham sandwich/snack. Seriously, what’s that red stuff? And I think there’s a tomato on there! I don’t eat tomatoes!!



Doesn’t matter, it was delicious.

Stephen got ice cream.







When our timer went off to go move our clothes, we found two of the dryers about to finish. There was another guy in there waiting also. He asked what the etiquette was if the dryer stopped and no one was here. We decided we could take them out and put them on the table.

I’d hate to do that to someone’s wet clothes, but dry seemed okay. And the washer and dryers tell you exactly how much time you have left in the cycle so it’s not hard to be on time.

Luckily for us, someone came in with one minute to spare and we didn’t have worry after all.

I walked around and took pictures for a while after that.



We could see people water skiing near the ship. Now that would be a fun excursion!



 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster










Tenders are still coming:



We still had a little time before dinner so I Photoshopped a little and we relaxed in the room. We watched a movie too, Pitch Perfect maybe?

We had sent some pressing out the day before and it came back in time for dinner. Not having to wait in line for irons on a cruise is a luxury I will gladly pay for. :)

Dinner was in Animators tonight. I like Animators on the Magic and Wonder, but I LOVE it on the Dream and Fantasy. I can’t wait to see the newly imagineered version on the Magic.

Even the menus are adorable!

 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster


Chernabog!! And Mom’s head.



Animators has my favorite appetizer – mushroom risotto! Yum!



This was a shrimp cheesecake type thing.



We caught up with the in-laws while we ate. They liked their excursion, but didn’t like how much free time they had. I was tickled at that because I love free time on excursions! That means more time to take pictures! :)

We also laughed at my brother-in-law when my in-laws told us he said he knew a little Spanish, but the only words he could actually remember how to say were, “I know a little Spanish.”

Lol!



My mom entertained herself:



My dinner!

 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
We had:







We had three sampler plates, plus our own desserts, and if that wasn’t enough, Plamen brought out special Father’s Day desserts!



And then they brought out a “Congratulations for graduating from high school" cake for Chase!!



Good grief!

Hmm. I guess we did okay…

 

Disneyfalcon

Well-Known Member
Original Poster
After dinner we went out on deck to watch as we sailed by Monaco.





Ah look! Stephen must have gone downstairs to get my other lens for me because he’s holding the regular one!





Mirror (window) shot!







The show tonight was Villains Tonight. Some jokes fell flat but I still like it. I think everyone did.

We went back to the room and found this little beauty:



Chase, brother-in-law, and I decided to go to the adult only show in Rockin’ Bar D. We ran up top for some pizza and cokes on our way. Why, you ask? Didn’t we just eat dinner? No, silly! That was like 2 hours ago!:D

Brother-in-law got a plate of nachos from Diversions next door.

Adult only shows were a first for Chase since he just turned 18! I was a little worried about some of the humor, but it wasn’t over the top. It is Disney after all.

Chase went for a run after the show, Ally watched Downton Abbey, and we went to sleep!

Oh, but before I do! Here’s my door hanger. Some people have asked what we use them for, so I thought I’d take a picture and show you. It’s just so nice not to have all these little things sitting around. We put our sunglasses in there, sun lotion, scissors, lipstick, a Tottenham Hotspur hat, all the essentials.



It’s great when you forget something and one person runs back to the room to get it. It makes things easy to find!

Now Disney did just put a statement out about these messing up the doors. They warned that guests will be charged if they chip the paint and they will be asked to take them down. So I took the over the door hooks on mine and wrapped them in duct-tape. I knew this would stop them from scratching if they were going to, but I was prepared I may not be able to use it. It worked out great!

Up next, La Spezia! :)
 

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