Disney Magic - Mediterranean 7 Day Cruise from Barcelona (May 26, 2018)

babycatsy

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Hi Guys - I did this for my Alaska Cruise and everyone seemed to like it. If you would like to see the post with formatting and photos please visit my blog (much appreciated) https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-embarkation/

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Happy Reading!

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Disney Cruises are something my family recently discovered. We had never cruised before our 7-night cruise to Alaska, and while we were on board, we booked another cruise from May 26-June 2 to sail the Mediterranean and explore Pompeii, Rome, Florence, and Nice. After spending 3 nights in Barcelona and 7 nights on the Disney Magic, we fell in love with all of the cultures in Europe and cannot wait to go through our trip report.
Disney Magic Seven-Night Trip Report
Over the next few weeks, my blog will shift focus from being a generalize travel blog to everything Disney! Well, Disney Cruise related. I found that many of my readers enjoy these trip reports, but I want to make sure that I cover everything, plus any additional trips and New Orleans blog posts over the next few weeks. These trip reports will not come out as rapidly as my Alaskan reports but don’t worry - I will make sure to cover all of the Disney fun from our cruise. Feel free to bookmark or pin this page so you can return because I will link all of the blog posts below.
Itinerary
We flew on Delta Airlines to Barcelona to spend three days exploring everything has to offer. I’m so happy that Barcelona was the starting and ending port of this cruise because there was so much to see (just like all of the ports) that I had a hard time fitting it in in all three days.
Day 1 Embarkation - Barcelona Spain
Embarkation day on a cruise is always an experience. Since this was our second cruise, we had a general idea of what to expect. We took a taxi from our hotel, which was about a 25-minute cab ride. We had five luggage, (one was our carry on for our water and wine!) and a transport chair.
Our first travel mistake, forgetting the rule about carrying on. For some reason, I thought I could bring any size carry on, so I had all of the water and wine in one of our bigger suitcases. Well, let’s just say that I caused a scene because I had to quickly grab one of our smaller bags and throw everything into it. Luckily, everything worked out, and I was able to get situated and breeze through security.
I found that the Barcelona Port was less strict than the Vancouver Port when it came to my wine. I, of course, obeyed Disneys 2 bottles of wine per person rule, but in Barcelona after having my luggage go through the x-ray, They just asked me how many bottles of wine I had instead of opening the suitcase and individually checking each bottle.
Getting on the Ship
Our boarding time was 11 am, but due to having to repack everything at the hotel, a bit of traffic on the way to the port, and just running late, we boarded around 12 pm. It was actually perfect because we didn’t have to actually wait for our boarding number to be called. Once we were done with checking in, we bypassed any of the photos and were able to walk right onto the ship.
When you first walk onto the ship, a cast member asks you for your family name and all of a sudden you hear “Welcome Aboard the Lindsly Family!”
Immediately boarding, we decided to head over to Luminere’s and have a nice sit-down meal while we waited for our room to get ready so we could ditch the wine suitcase. Having a nice sit-down dinner at Lumiere (versus the sometimes wild nature of Cabanas) allowed us to regroup and figure out the rest of the day on the ship.
Getting into Our Verandah room
We stayed in room 7120 which is considered one of Disney Magic’s Hidden Verandah Room. This room looked exactly like our room from the Disney Wonder during our Alaskan cruise, except for the fact that the bedding was a different color and the painting in the room was different.
This room sleeps three people - two in the bed, and one the couch. The room also has a split bath, which comes in handy for getting ready in the morning for early excursion days.
The reason why this room is considered a Hidden Verandah is that there is a portion of the balcony that has a white wall. There is a discount for booking this room because the white part technically obstructs your ocean view. Even though the balcony has a slight obstruction, the plexiglass makes up for any visual obstructions you have from the white. I honestly enjoy having this room because it makes you feel like you are on a semi-private balcony.
The Rest of the Day
The rest of the day went by very quickly. Ally took over unpacking everything and putting it in the correct spot, while I monopolized the washers on deck seven (sorry guys!). We like to do laundry on the ship with Tide Pods because they are easy to transport and get our clothes clean quickly.
I entered everyone in our cabin for the spa raffle during the open house. Unfortunately, we did not win, but I had a fun time walking around the spa since we missed all open houses on our last cruise. On my next Disney Cruise, I want to take full advantage of the spa since I haven’t done that yet, except for a few quick trips to the gym.
Mandatory Muster Drill
Probably one of the least fun parts of the trip is the Mandatory Safety Drill. There was some misunderstanding that the drill started at 4 instead of 430, but we were able to get to our safety area very quickly. Our safety area was Animator’s Palate. We were lucky enough to not have to stand in the Sun waiting for the drill. While waiting for the drill, both mom and Ally fell asleep, I suppose I wore them out during our 3 Day Exploration of Barcelona. I, of course, being the terrible daughter I am, whipped out the camera and filmed the outcome. Let’s just say that if there is an emergency, I need to make sure to wake up my family!
Adventures Away Deck Party
In true Disney Fashion, the only way to sail away is with a dance party! We quickly grabbed a good seat so we could be involved with all of the action, without being in the way, and I grabbed us some drinks. Meeting a cast member who was on vacation, I learned that I could buy the coveted Dole Whip at the bar and add any type of rum to that drink. Abandoning my family's drink orders, I ordered three different Dole Whips, one with dark rum, white rum, and spiced rum.
Seeing that the cast member was so excited for this tasty treat, I just had to try it. Well, ladies and gentlemen, it was not my favorite beverage that we had on the ship. In fact, I would prefer if I had gotten the frozen pina colada. When I first tried sipping the dole whip, I got a mouth full of rum. I didn’t mean to take shots! It took a while to mix the rum with the Dole Whip, but once it was finally mixed, we decided that the White Rum and Dole Whip was the best cocktail. Needless to say, we did not go back for an alcoholic dole Whip while on the trip.
Balcony Chilling and Dinner
Let me just say that we enjoyed our balcony a lot during this trip. After the Dance Party, we escaped from the overstimulated kids to have a glass of wine before dinner. During this time, we met our neighbors and chatted with them. They were on their third cruise and had three cabins full of people including a Grandparents cabin, a young adult cabin, and our cabin with our neighbors. It was fun to chat with the people next to us and discuss all of our upcoming plans for the week.
That night, we had dinner at the newly refurbished Rapunzel’s Royal Table, where we met our servers and got acquainted with our table. Lucky for us, we didn’t skip dinner the first night like we accidentally did on the Alaskan Cruise.
Enjoying the Evening
I wouldn’t ever suggest to anyone to skip a Disney Show while on the Disney Cruise line. When we were on the Disney Wonder, we did see Be Our Guest, and even though it was one of my favorite shows in Alaska, we opted to veg out enjoy our balcony. With a glass of Spain’s finest Rioja, a couple of chairs, and a blanket we spent the evening looking at the next day’s Daily Navigator and reminiscing about our time in Barcelona.
Stay tuned this summer to read about all of my trip reports for our May 25, 2018, Mediterranean Cruise out of Barcelona.
Day 2 Sea Day
Day 3 Naples (Pompeii), Italy
Day 4 Civitavecchia (Rome), Italy
Day 5 Livorno (Florence, Pisa), Italy
Day 6 Villefranche (Monte Carlo/Nice), France
Day 7 Sea Day
Day 8 Disembarkation - Barcelona, Spain
 
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Hope everyone is having a good week. This week's trip report is all about sea day!

https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-sea-day/

Feel free to comment here or on the blog.

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Our family went on a 7 Day Disney Cruise on the Mediterranean which left Barcelona and where we were able to visit Pompeii, Rome, Florence, and Nice. But before we could knock a few countries off of our bucket list, we had a coveted Sea Day which was much needed due to our full Three Day Sightseeing trip in Barcelona. Sea Days are my favorite because it is the only time my family is able to relax and fully enjoy the actual Cruise Ship.

First Day of Room Service on Sea Day

We start off every morning getting room service delivered to us first thing in the morning. Typically, we order two carafes of coffee, a couple of bakery treats, and some fresh fruit to tide us over until we can make it to breakfast. On a typical sea day, we order the room service to come to our room around 6:30 am so we have enough time to leisurely drink our coffee on our Verandah before having to rush around and get ready.

Pro Tip: Even though room service is mostly complimentary, tipping is a must. I’ve noticed that sometimes I had a receipt to sign when other times I didn’t. Make sure you take your cash tip out the evening before and place it on the magnetized door. It makes it easier to tip first thing in the morning when you are half asleep!

Breakfast at Cabanas

Cabanas was only open 7:30 am - 11:30 pm for breakfast, so we made sure to get there early so we could eat before our day full of tastings. The day was pretty overcast, but we were stubborn and outside on the deck anyways.

Man! Was it windy and chilly. The high was only 72 F, and I don’t think that it ever got that warm for the whole day.

Anyone Can Cook

One of my favorite activities on Sea Day is the Anyone Can Cook series. After looking at my Disney Cruise App, I saw that this one was the only age appropriate (aka 31+) Anyone Can Cook class. On the menu was Sea Bass

We sat down at the back of the D Lounge while Chef prepared Pan Seared Sea Bass with Fava Bean and Pea Risotto and Sweet Chili Glaze. Even though I am not a fan of Fish, I was excited to try this dish.

The sommelier paired the wine with Santa Carolina Chardonnay from Chile. I am not a big Chardonnay fan, but I was impressed that I could identify this wine because it tasted like “A wine you would have at a wedding.”

This was Mom and Ally’s first time enjoying the Anyone Can Cook Series, and they seemed to enjoy it, even though we didn’t like the Sea Bass or take the recipe card home. This is a beautiful way for those who are in the adult age range to knock out 45 minutes of their Sea Day.

Wine Tasting
Promptly at 12:15 pm we reported to Keys for our wine tasting! I was super excited about this class because I’ve been taking a few wine tasting classes back home in New Orleans and wanted to see what we would learn.

When we arrived, there were six glasses out, and one had wine in it. Our instructor informed us that this was a blind taste test between the new world and old world wines. We would take each individual glass, swirl it around to see how fast the legs of the wine came down, take in all of the aromas and taste and guess where the wines came from.

During this wine tasting, I remembered how much I enjoyed a delicious Chianti and rediscovered my love of Riesling! I also realized that I didn’t care for some of the wines produced in the United States. You will hear more about our wine adventure in future trip reports, but for now, know that we had an excellent wine tasting and learned a lot!

The wines that we tasted:
Sauvignon Blanc 2016 - Cloudy Bay - New Zealand
Chardonnay 2015 - ZD - United States
Riesling 2014 - Selbach Oster - Germany
Pinot Noir 2016 - Meiomi - United States
Chianti Classico Riserva 2014 - Banfi -Italy
Cabernet Sauvignon - Marques de Casa Concha - Chile

Lunch at Cabanas

The Wine tasting we a little over the 1 hour it was supposed to, everyone was having so much fun! But we had to race to Cabanas so they wouldn’t close on us. Cabanas was open from 11:45-2:00 pm for lunch and we barely made it there by 1:45 pm.

We didn’t realize that as long as you are actually in Cabanas by 2 pm, they will still let you in. The start closing down one side of Cabanas so they can clean up and prep for the 6 pm table service.

A full review of all the restaurants and food we tried is coming soon, but my favorite things to eat at Cabanas on this trip was the corndogs and macaroni and cheese! I am primarily a grown version of a 4-year-old!

Mixology with the Facebook Group

A few months before our trip a lady named Laura reached out to me to join a facebook group to help each other plan for our upcoming trip! During this time another member Jennifer organized a mixology class (through Disney) for members of the group to attend.

I loved attending a private mixology tasting with a few people who I had been communicating with over the past few months. I know Jennifer put in a lot of work and effort to get our group together - but for me, it was completely seamless and enjoyable!

The mixology course was so much fun! It was probably it is in my top three (out of five!) courses I’ve taken while on a Disney Cruise. When we arrived, many of the pre-made cocktails were out, with a couple of extras for us to learn the art of mixology.

Cocktails we made:
Melon Ball - Vodka, Midori, Orange Juice
King Royal - Prosecco and cream de cassis
Mojito - Bacardi Lemon, Simple Syrup, Lime, Soda water, Mint
Pomo Passion Martini - Prosecco, Pama pomegranate liqueur, passion fruit juice
Keys with Love - Kaluha, Disarono, Baileys, Whipped cream.

All of the cocktails were tasty, but the Keys with Love was the most fun! We were given an empty shot glass where we had to layer the Kaluha, Disarono, and Baileys one on top of each other to provide a layered look. Then, we were given the option to add whipped cream to the top (of course I did!), and we were given the challenge to take the entire beverage without touching it with our hands!

A couple of the people in the group were successful, I, however, was not! But my sister managed to get a funny, cute video of Mom and I tasting our drinks here!

I would definitely retake the mixology course the next time I go on a Disney cruise.

Dinner and Formal Night

As someone who is still relatively new to cruising, I am not a huge fan of formal night, but I love seeing all of the little kiddos and Disney characters dressed up to the nines. What we do for formal night is something straightforward - wear black dresses and jazz it up with jewelry and cute shoes.

Just remember, you want to make sure to iron your clothes before the last minute rush to get ready for the shows and dinner because there is generally a line at the ironing board.

We dined at Lumiere’s and had a wonderful time eating our four-course meal! For appetizers, I got the Breaded and Deep Fried Brie with an Orange and Cranberry Chutney, and Iced Lobster and Jumbo Shrimp with Green Asparagus, Horseradish cream and a Dill dressing. My Second course was the Farmhouse salad with baby spinach, asparagus, cherry tomatoes, and fingerling potatoes served with a goat cheese crostini and olive vinaigrette, For my entree I had the Chateaubriand-Roasted Filet Steak with crushed new potatoes with shallots, Buttered Green Beans, Red Wine Jus and a Bernaise Sauce on the side. I ended dinner with dessert which was the Classic Opera Gateau that has layers of Joconde Sponge, Soaked in Coffee Syrup Chocolate ganache and rich buttercream.

Captain’s Reception Dinner

Another one of my favorites is the Captain’s Reception. This is one of the only times Disney passes out complimentary cocktails! There are two Captain’s receptions so that no one ends up missing out because they are at the dinner or the show. The reception is at 530 and 730, and we went to 730.

Beverages that were available included white wine, beer, and fruity cocktails. They also had a non-alcoholic drink that was great. Here is my quick hint for you: The reception is in the Atrium’s Lobby. This is where everyone lines up to grab a photo with the Captain and their family in their formal dress.

If you do not want a photo, and just want to enjoy the reception, hang out close to the D Lounge on Deck 4 so you can quickly grab a beverage. This is where all of the cast members come out with trays full of drinks, and most people snatch it up before they can make their way down to the third deck.

Family Superstar Karaoke was going on the same time as the captain's reception, so we popped into the D Lounge for some entertainment. I loved seeing the kids and tweens get up there and sing their hearts out.

There was even one little girl who got up to sing Walk The Moon’s Shut up and Dance song. She sang so softly that her father had to hop on stage with her to help her with all of the lyrics! It was truly adorable.

Show Twice Charmed

Earlier in the evening, we ran into Cinderella, and she was rushing to the show. She said something to us that she had glass shattered in her foot and needed to get it out! We were confused because the classic story of Cinderella has nothing to do with a glass shoe breaking.

We sat in our ideal seats in the show (aisle seat close to the top) we enjoy these seats because every seat is basically is right in the theater.

Twice Charmed is an original twist on the Cinderella Story wondering what would happen if Cinderella did not get her happy ending. Currently, it is only available on the Disney Magic.

Not wanting to give too much away, the story has evil Godfather, giant mice, and the hope that true love will find each other - even when an evil God Father is in the picture. The most shocking thing I discovered from this play? A lot of people can share the same Fairy Godmother! I had no idea.

If you are into maximizing your time on the ship, make sure you watch this play.

The End of The First Sea Day on the Disney Magic

We didn’t do as many activities on this first sea day as we did on our Alaskan Trip, but we were fully satisfied with what we accomplished! We had a lot of downtimes where we met a couple of friendly people on the ship and learned a lot from our two tasting classes. My Advice? Don’t take two courses in one day! It messes with other activities you can do on the boat, and a noon tasting is hard to try to squeeze in lunchtime while enjoying everything.

Of course, on a Disney Cruise Line, you will never go hungry.


https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-sea-day/
 
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After a week off I'm Back!

For better formatting and tons of photos please visit: https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-pompeii/

Disney Magic Cruise Line Port of Naples-Pompeii

Our first day at a port was the port of Naples-Pompeii. We were so excited to book the entire cruise because of this port. Ever since my family visited a museum in Los Angeles that had artifacts and casks from Pompeii. Once we saw the ruins, we knew that we just had to get to Pompeii and explore the city.

Breakfast on the Disney Magic on Naples-Pompeii day

Knowing that we were going to have a long day ahead of us, we ordered room service first thing in the morning. Cabanas opened at 6:15 in the morning, so I ran upstairs to grab some additional goodies to round out our breakfast. For a quick breakfast, we order fruit, pastry treats, cereals and milk, and coffee from room service, and grab a plate of meats and cheeses from cabanas.

Disney Port Adventures vs Private Excursions

For our Disney Alaskan tour, we took Port Adventures everywhere. They were very convenient and handicapable for our mobility needs. When researching Disney Port Adventures for our Mediterranean cruise, we noticed that all the excursions were very intense, and the slower paced one only lasted a few hours. Wanting to maximize our time in Italy, we booked a full day exploring Pompeii, Sorrento, & The Amalfi Coast.

Getting off of the Disney Magic in Naples

The all ashore time was 7:30 am and our meeting time was promptly at 8:10 am. We got off the Disney Magic a little early to make sure that we met our driver and tour guides on time. Lucky for us our guides were there early - we were able to spend the entire day with Alessandra and Ricardo, and had a private guide in Pompeii.

Touring Pompeii with a private guide

Traffic around the Port of Naples is usually pretty bad, but with getting to our car early, and traffic being light, we were able to get to Pompeii before it opened at 9 am. We took this time to walk around the adorable gift shop outside of Pompeii and taste some limoncello, this was the first time we saw the creamy limoncello.

Getting into Pompeii

When arriving in Pompeii, our tour guide skipped the ticket line for us, and we were able to go through an exclusive tour guide only line to pass the bus loads of people. We opted to bring a walker-wheelchair combo to Pompeii because we knew that our standard wheelchair wouldn’t hold up on the ancient streets.

The high claims that it was 76 F, but instead it was in the upper 80s when we went in May. There isn’t any shade in Pompeii so if you are visiting in the summer make sure to dress light and bring a lot of water.

Using the transport chair/walker was interesting because this was our first time having to navigate a site seeing area with a large crowd, and we were going to be in Pompeii for a three hour tour. I would say that mom was able to ride and walk the tour pretty half and half. We like to save her energy which is why we invested in the chair.

Touring Pompeii

Some of my favorite things that we learned about Pompeii were the different ways of life. Our guide pointed out the difference between a shop and a house. She also showed us the grooves where the wagon wheels from the horses would drive. Other interesting points was seeing the different graffitis littered all throughout Pompeii. After touring for three hours in the hot sun, we finally ended up in the town square where it seemed like everyone was gathered. For the city being so ancient, it had wonderful crowd control.

My favorite thing about the entire city was the streets! Who would have thought that the roads were created as a modern-day sewer system. All water, waste, and anything else that were in the streets would travel down out of the city center.

Handicap accessibility in Pompeii

I am not sure if someone who was in a motorized chair or even more mobility issues than my mom would be able to do the tour that we went on. There were plenty of times where we had to lift the chair and assist mom across the street or around a large group of tourists. I did notice, that since everyone spoke different languages and had earbuds to listen to their tour guides, they were less aware of their own surroundings.

The one thing that I was disappointed in was the handicapped bathroom was out of order. Was it really out of order? I’m not sure, but it had a sign on it saying it was out of order and no one gave us any instruction on having to use a key. Luckily, the steps were not too steep, and we just took our time climbing the stairs. Another good thing is mom got a good view of Pompeii from the bathroom window!

I cannot express how beautiful our guide was assisting us with the wheelchair, navigating us in and out of the large groups of tourists, and allowing us to go at a slower pace.

Pompeii in photos

In trying to keep this blog post short, I will post a couple of my favorite photos from the trip. Make sure to read all the captions and check back later for my full in-depth blog post on Pompeii. My main tip for Pompeii is to go first thing in the morning, if at all possible, avoid the summer time. There are a lot of crowds and it’s quite warm!

Traveling to Sorrento

Once we were reunited with our guides, traffic really started picking up. Ricardo was able to skillfully navigate in and out of the traffic to safely bring us to our next stop: Sorrento.

Alessandra gave us two options, we could have a longer time in Sorrento and maybe have to skip the Amalfi Coast, or have a quick lunch and have more time for sightseeing. We, of course, opted for the quick meal!

Dining in Sorrento

We did a real quick drive in Sorrento (don’t worry - we are going to return hopefully in 2019!) and picked a place to eat. We ate at Il Convivio http://www.ristoranteilconviviosorrento.com/index.html - a cute little restaurant that had some outside seating.

Ally started us off with some Aperol Spritz, a vibrant orange cocktail with ice and sparkling wine. This bitter drink was not my favorite, so I allowed Ally to finish it off while we finished eating dinner (don’t worry - we found a prosecco that I really like to make the Aperol Spritz so we are enjoying them at home and I found out that Bar Tonique, a bar in New Orleans, serves delicious cocktails using Aperol).

Our lunch was funny, we explained to the English speaking waiter that we were in a hurry due to time constraints, and he let us know that we would be in and out in no time. The three of each ordered a summer minestrone soup, a lightly fried eggplant parmesan appetizer, and one small pizza.

When we asked for the check, there was a communication issue, so let’s just say I made mom and ally hurry up to make their way back to our meeting point for our guides. Luckily for us, Alessandra and Ricardo were waiting for us to wrap up our lunch so we could drive around the square.

Desserts in Sorrento

We didn’t have time for desserts in Sorrento, and one of the conversations we had with Alessandra was the delicious treats in Sorrento. Before we headed off to see the Amalfi Coast, Alessandra and I went straight to a bakery to buy some delicious baked goods for our family.

Thank goodness Alessandra speaks impeccable English and Italian because the bakery did not speak any English at all. When I was ordering there was a lot of pointing and smiling from my end, and I do not think the pastry chef was amused. We ended up buying some cannolis and Sfogliatelle.

The Amalfi Coast

We drove through the Amalfi Coast to soak up the sites and enjoy the scenery. We stopped at a very popular vista, one of the last stops before descending into town, and gazed down at Positano.

I enjoyed driving the coast and seeing the town from far away, but this just added to my wanderlust of wanting to get down there and explore. While we were looking at the city, there were a couple of gift shops to buy trinkets and candies. We ended up purchasing some sweets to bring home because what is better than candy? We bought Perle di Sole Amalfi Lemon Drops, Orange Drops, and Lemon Creme Sconza Almonds.

After taking photos and swearing that we will come back, we piled in the car and took the long ride back to Naples.

The Port of Naples


Cutting it close to get on board, we wanted to make sure to get some goodies before getting back on the ship. The shops had a good selection of wines and candies and didn’t seem like the prices were outrages. We bought more sweets, limoncello, and wines to bring back on board.

Nervous that we were going to be left behind because the all aboard time was 6 pm, but the actual ship didn’t leave until about 645 pm. I’m not sure if we left late because of Port Adventures excursions or not, but we didn’t see anyone nervously running towards the ship.

Animator's Palate

That evening we dined at Animator’s Palate, one of my favorite restaurants on the Magic and Wonder.

That evening I ate the Black Truffle Pasta Purseittes with Truffled-scented Cheese coated with a delicate Champagne Sauce (my favorite thing on the entire cruise).

I opted for the Baked Potato and Cheddar Cheese Soup, and this is when I remembered that I am not a fan of the soups on the Disney Cruise Line, they taste like you just threw them into a Vitamix and blended furiously.

My Main course was the Ginger-Teriyaki dusted Angus Beef Tenderloin with Wasabi Mashed Potatoes, Bok Choy, and a Tamarind-Barbeque Reduction.

At the end of dinner, Mickey Mouse came out in his fantasia costume to great everyone and tell them hi. Seeing Mickey during this time is one of my favorite ways to spend my dinner.

The rest of the evening

Since Tangled was playing twice on our ship, we opted to go back to our room and enjoy some of the wine we bought in Naples. One of our favorite things to do in the evening is to sit on the verandah enjoying a glass of wine and viewing the sunset.

The next day was busy with a full day exploring Rome and everything it had to offer.

For better formatting and tons of photos please visit: https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-pompeii/
 
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We also stayed in room 7120 on the Magic for our med cruise. That is my preferred room on either the Wonder or Magic.

We also took a wheelchair to Pompeii. We had a guide that tried to keep us to the new Handicap Tour, but as you said we still had to do a lot of lifting to get on and off sidewalks. A couple of places, they did put metal mesh across the "crosswalks" for wheelchair access.
 


We also stayed in room 7120 on the Magic for our med cruise. That is my preferred room on either the Wonder or Magic.

We also took a wheelchair to Pompeii. We had a guide that tried to keep us to the new Handicap Tour, but as you said we still had to do a lot of lifting to get on and off sidewalks. A couple of places, they did put metal mesh across the "crosswalks" for wheelchair access.

That's awesome - yes i liked the new metal mesh crosswalks but it is def a harder trip for anyone with a wheelchair or a walker. Which chair did you use?

When was your cruise in room 7120 ---that's our favorite (and my only) room so far!

Blog post on Rome is coming soon I promise!
 
That's awesome - yes i liked the new metal mesh crosswalks but it is def a harder trip for anyone with a wheelchair or a walker. Which chair did you use?

When was your cruise in room 7120 ---that's our favorite (and my only) room so far!

Blog post on Rome is coming soon I promise!

We were on the July 7th, 10 night Med cruise.

Our neighbors have a special chair for their DD that you can add a fly wheel to the front that basically lifts up the 2 small front wheels and and makes it like a jogging stroller. They use it a lot for uneven surfaces, like cobblestones. But, yes, we still had to do a lot of lifting.

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We were on the July 7th, 10 night Med cruise.

Our neighbors have a special chair for their DD that you can add a fly wheel to the front that basically lifts up the 2 small front wheels and and makes it like a jogging stroller. They use it a lot for uneven surfaces, like cobblestones. But, yes, we still had to do a lot of lifting.

DSC_3181c.jpg


That is such a nice chair! We tried doing Brussels with just our tiny transport chair and it was easier for mom to push and rest than to actually push her on the cobblestones. Spain was actually very handicapable but we bought that fancy walker/chair hybrid which was pretty good in Pompeii. We just made sure mom rested while it was easy so she could get out of the chair when it was hard.
 


New post is up! As always the text is here and you can visit the blog post for the photos. I did add a couple of sections about on the blog that isn't in this plain text.

If y'all are enjoying my trip report please feel free to comment here, on the blog, or share on pinterest and facebok!

https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-rome/

The next day the Disney Magic docked at Civitavecchia, the port 44 miles outside of Rome. I was excited to visit the Eternal City because there is so much history and so many things to do in the area. Since one day is not enough to tackle Rome, we booked another private excursion with Italy Tours to try to fit everything in.

Italy Tours and Rome

We met our tour guide right outside of the Disney Magic at 7:35 am for a quick departure to go to Rome for a full day of sightseeing. For this private excursion, we only booked a driver and not a tour guide because we built our own itinerary and downloaded a couple of Rick Steves audio tours to assist us with learning more about the sites we were seeing.

Driving into the City

I was nervous about driving because, with traffic, the ride could take anywhere between 1-2 hours. One to two hours is a big-time waste when you only have one day to explore one of Italy’s finest cities! Lucky for us, the traffic was not that bad and we arrived in a timely fashion.

Our First Glimpse of Rome

After being in the car for about an hour and a half, we stopped right outside of the city walls to stretch our legs and take in the view of Rome for the first time (well except for Mom, she traveled throughout Italy in the 70s). After adequate feet stretching, we carried on to Rome.

Rome Pantheon

Since we did not have tickets to the Vatican (we are saving that for another trip to Rome), we were planning to drive through Vatican City, but the traffic was super busy! Instead, our driver dropped us off at the Pantheon because the line was super short.

Coincidentally, it's better to visit the Pantheon on a Tuesday or Wednesday between the hours of 8-11 and we were right in that window. My other favorite tip about visiting the Pantheon is that it was free - great if you are trying to travel on a budget.

We downloaded Rick Steven’s Audio tour which allowed us to walk around the Pantheon with our earbuds learning more about the building than if we were just wandering around.

One of my favorite things about the Pantheon was the open air ceiling that allows snow and rain in. The construction of the building allows any runoff from weather to drain down underneath the building.

There is so much I can say about the Pantheon, but you need to make sure to budget some time in your itinerary to see this while you are in Rome for only a day.
Getting Coffee in Rome

The combination of being jet lagged and our early morning pick up left us exhausted by 10 am. We popped into a small coffee shop right next to the Pantheon to get coffee at La Casa Del Caffè Tazza D'oro.

I went to the counter and ordered our lattes, and quickly stood off to the side which is what I thought was the right thing to do. There were a ton of construction workers that ordered behind me, and I noticed that they all got their espressos very quickly, stirred the drink, drank it on one fell swoop, and continued on with their day.

I figured my coffees would take a little bit longer since I had a latte, but then I noticed that people were standing close to the counter and giving the barista their receipts and soon afterward a coffee would appear!

Trying to not stick out like a sore thumb (Yeah….I did) I handed over my receipt and quickly three lattes appeared in front of me. Ally and mom blended in perfectly with the Italians by drinking their coffee very quickly, but I am more of a lukewarm type of coffee drinker so it was hard for me to quickly chug the coffee. Eventually, Ally reminded me that we had a ton of sightseeing to do that day, so unless I wanted to fall behind schedule,


Bones Church - the Capuchin Crypt

If you go anywhere in Rome, you need to go to Bones Church. As I said, mom went on a trip with a group in the 70s and she said the one thing that stuck in her mind (besides breaking a revolving glass door with her purse) was Bones Church. This off the beaten path church is also known as the Capuchin Crypt.

I only briefly researched the Capuchin Crypt because mom wanted to make sure that I went in with an open mind. I couldn’t find a way to purchase tickets ahead of time, but this museum and crypt aren’t that widely visited so walking in off of the street should be fine. Tickets are 8.50 Euros for everyone but 5 Euros if you are under 18 or over 65. You can also purchase an audio tour to listen to all the points of interest in the museum and crypt.

Our entire tour took about an hour and a half because we took our time throughout the museum and we absorbed everything in the Crypt. Mom was excited to see the addition of the museum which really prepares you for what you will see in the crypt.

Bone church is not creepy or scary, but it somehow gives you a sort of peace when you see the artwork done with the bones.

Another quick tip, you must dress appropriates (bring a sweater if you are a female and cover your knees) and you cannot take any photos of the Crypt. I was so tempted to take a photo, but I’m also terrified about being locked up abroad that I did not.

Lunch at Il Chianti Vineria

After working up our appetite, we asked our tour guide the best place to visit to get something delicious and authentic. He suggested that we go to Chianti and promised that locals go to this restaurant.

We split an appetizer that had delicious cheese, bread, and chutney with a small side of greens. For my entree, I had a bowl of pasta with sausage and plenty of cheese. Being fair to the restaurant's name we also tackled a bottle of Chianti Classico where we really started our love affair with Chianti on this cruise.

During lunch, we were sat next to two young American girls who were on their way to Greece celebrating graduating from college. It was great talking to other tourists about some of the same struggles that we faced over the past few days.

Trevi Fountain

After dinner, we walked down to Trevi Fountain which was extremely crowded. I was shocked to see how large and beautiful Trevi Fountain was in real life. It was quite overwhelming!

We were at the fountain long enough to snap a few photos and throw a coin into the fountain. We only spent a short amount of time here because we needed to buy some bottles of wine to bring back onto the boat. Did you know on a Disney Cruise you can bring 2 bottles of wine on the boat for each port you visit? For our family, that is 6 bottles of wine at each port.

Colosseum

We booked open tickets for the Colosseum because mom and a companion were able to get in at a discounted rate (only 2 euros!). Once we arrived at the Colosseum, we went straight to the ticketing office to get our vouchers exchanged and to buy some audio tours. I would not buy the audio tour from the Colosseum because it wasn’t that useful.

The Colosseum was one of the warmest areas of our cruise. Standing in the Colosseum in the afternoon sun was one of the brutal parts of our vacation. Since we went to the most crowded part of Rome at the end of the day, we were all exhausted while walking around.

At one point, I was pushing mom and listening to the audio tour and saw that mom was engrossed in something on the bottom level of the Colosseum. When I looked closer, I notice that she fell asleep while looking at the Colosseum. For anyone that's counting, we are now up to three places where my family fell asleep on this trip - on the Bus in Barcelona, during the Muster drill on the Disney Magic, and now in the middle of the Colosseum.

The Colosseum only allows 3,000 people in it at one time. While we were in the Colosseum there was an announcement that the Colosseum reached capacity.

If you are willing to brave the crowds at the Colosseum, or if you can go on offseason, then the Colosseum is a pretty handicapable friendly place.

Grocery Store Shopping in Civitavecchia

After the Colosseum, we hopped in the car to head back to Civitavecchia. We asked Gianni to stop by a grocery store so we could purchase some water. While we were in there, we, of course, stumbled upon some 4 Euro wine that we ended up purchasing and actually enjoyed it!

I knew Italy had great wine, but who knew that an inexpensive bottle of wine from a local grocery store would taste great!

Dinner at Rapunzel's Table

Our second night at Rapunzel's was the World of Flavor Menu. Everyone on the ship had the same menu so that everyone had the same dining experience.

I started off dinner with the Italian Bresaola which had goat cheese, grape tomatoes, and virgin olive oil.

For a salad, I ordered the American Iceberg wedge salad with tomatoes and Blue Cheese Dressing.

My Main course was the Pad Thai with Rice Noodles weight Bead curd, shallots, Eggs and Chives in a Sweet and Sour sauce garnished with crush limes wedges and roasted chili powder. - The whole family got this dish, and we basically did not touch it because it was inedible, this was the only complaint about the food I had on the whole cruise.

Dessert we ordered and split the Irish Warm Guinness Pudding served with Butterscotch Sauce and Vanilla Ice cream.

The Canadian Ice Cream SUndae with butter pecan ice cream, maple syrup roasted pecans and whipped cream.

The French Passion Fruit Creme Brulee with Raspberry Macaron.

Tangled The Musical
That night, we walked down to the Walt Disney Magic Theater to grab our seats and the theater was super empty! Of course, we remembered that the day before they also showed Tangled so I really like having a choice to watch the show.

Never seeing Tangled the Movie, I was pleasantly surprised to see Tangled The Musical. The show is pretty true to the movie (that we watched later on in the week in our stateroom) and watching the show allowed me to connect some of the references that the actors in the restaurant were throwing down.

Settling in for the evening

That evening, we ended up going to be semi-early because we had another early morning to see the best of everything in Florence and Pisa.

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Hold up. You docked in Livorno, but your excursion was to Rome? I find that hard to believe since they are 4 hours apart. Did you mean Civitavecchia? Just trying to follow along since we are doing the Med next year. Thanks!
 
Hold up. You docked in Livorno, but your excursion was to Rome? I find that hard to believe since they are 4 hours apart. Did you mean Civitavecchia? Just trying to follow along since we are doing the Med next year. Thanks!
That sounds right. Livorno takes you to Florence, Pisa, etc.
 
Hold up. You docked in Livorno, but your excursion was to Rome? I find that hard to believe since they are 4 hours apart. Did you mean Civitavecchia? Just trying to follow along since we are doing the Med next year. Thanks!
Oh man I need to drink more coffee or not write my posts so late at night!!! I'll see if i can edit my post on here and will update it on the blog thank you!
 
Who is ready for another update!!!! I'm ready for another cruise! ha ha!!

As always -- please head over to the blog post to see all the photos Hope y'all are enjoying this trip report! https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/florence-pisa/ feel free to share on social media!

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The fifth day of our Disney Cruise and our vacation was more than halfway over. It was time to explore our last port in Italy - Livorno to see Florence and Pisa. Tackling a museum, two cities, and some famous sights in one day were on our to-do list.

Waking up on the Disney Magic

By this time, our jet lag was worn off, and we were adjusting to the time zone. We had another early morning docking at 7:00 am, but luckily for us, we weren’t meeting our guide, Michael, until 7:30 am.

Private excursion to Florence

Our last and final private excursion with Italy tours was Pisa and Florence, we had a long list to do. We quickly told Michael that we had 3 long days in Barcelona, plus a long day exploring Pompeii and Rome, so we wanted something a little slower paced and the freedom to walk around.

Michael fulfilled our requests perfect, we drove through the countryside admiring all of the different vineyards and rolling hills of Tuscany. While we were on this trip, the three of us decided that we wanted to do a wine tour in Italy on an upcoming trip. Hopefully, that happens soon!

Taking a break and drinking coffee

The road trip took a little over an hour and a half, and Michael stopped at the Piazzale Michelangelo, Florence, a replica of Michelangelo's David so that we could see the statue, get a coffee and run to the restroom.

We stopped by Bar Play, one of the small restaurants in the area within walking distance, and grabbed a couple of coffees and used the bathroom. Unfortunately, the bathroom was down a couple of stairs and was quite steep to get to, but we were able to manage.

While looking at the menu, I noticed that there were two different prices one for dining in, and one for drinking at the bar. Since we were not hanging out in that area for long, we opted to get our coffees at the bar (which was also the lower price).

After caffeinating ourselves up, we walked over to soak up all of Florence. Getting ready to take on a full day right ahead of us.

Michelangelo's David at the Acadia

We booked Skip-the-Line tickets at the Acadia on our own since we received discounts for traveling with someone with a disability. However, most of the other places we visited allowed for anyone who had a disability to buy discounted tickets, but The Acadia only want to sell tickets to Europeans. Luckily for us, Michael smoothed things over with them and convinced them to let us in with the tickets we purchased.

When we were walking in, we had two bottles of water in the wheelchair, which got flagged and they wanted us to throw them away. We were allowed to keep one bottle with us but had the throw the other bottle away. Make sure you do not have any water in your bag because you will need to drink it or toss it to enter the museum.

We skipped the audio tour and used Rick Steven’s audio tour again. I really enjoyed using my own phone for the audio tour because I can use my favorite earphones and it saves a lot of money in the long run. I do enjoy renting audio tours, but sometimes they are subpar, and the earbuds hurt my ears.

We were visiting at the end of May, which is the beginning of high season in Italy. The Museum was quite crowded and warm, but we were able to easily navigate with our wheelchair.

When you first walk into the hall with David and see Michaelangelo’s statue for the first time its remarkable how much room the statue takes up. Honestly, my eye was on the statue the whole time, I couldn’t even tell you what else was in the hall!

Rick Steven’s audio tour had us start at one end of the room and slowly walk around the statue. Through the tour, we learned a few fascinating facts including that a guy attacked the left foot of the statue in 1991.

After being in the hall with David, we ventured to the Gipsoteca Bartolini, 19th-century hall to see all of the plaster models for other statues.

Walking Around Florence

Once we were done with Accademia, we met up with Michael and drove around Florence to see some of the highlights. He told us about a few different leather markets in the area and gave us some pointers for walking around the city.

We were dropped off right by Piazza Della Repubblica and walked over to The Baptistery of St. John to see the famous golden doors. These doors were one of the things mom wanted to see while she was Florence.

After seeing the doors, we made our way to one of the leather markets.

The Leather Market - Mercato di San Lorenzo

Ally wanted to buy a leather purse from Italy, so we wandered over to Mercato di San Lorenzo, the leather market, to browse. We first walked down the open air market and notice that everyone had the same bags over and over. Many of the merchants were not from Italy which was very disappointing.

After walking a block or so down the street, we made our way to some of the stores that line the street. Here we saw many beautiful leather purses that were decently priced, however with the dollar to euro exchange we ended up not buying any handbags.

One great find that I found in Florence was the brand Valentia which I saw at TJMaxx and Marshall's multiple times. Seeing this brand in Italy gave me the confidence to purchase the bag (at a lower price too) while I was back in the United States. Y’all TJMaxx and Marshall’s spoiled me.

Eating at the Market

It started raining, so we jumped inside of Mercato Centrale (Central Market) to avoid the rain and to find something to eat. One of the best things about this entire trip has been the food! Everyone was trying to get off of the street to avoid the rain, so we ran to the first food spot that we saw.

Most of the tables were taken so, we sat down at a teeny tiny table, and embraced the uncomfortable. Looking at the chalkboard menu, we decided the best thing to eat would be chartreuse, cheese, and olives and of courses a bottle of Chianti.

Our food arrived, and the platter was huge and everything with delicious. I had never had a meat and cheese tray that was so large and filling. We got a food tray enough for three people, and indeed it was plenty of food. Especially with the extra bread and olive oil, our waiter gave us.

Sitting next to us, we met a couple that was also visiting Florence, and they were eating Ribollita, one of the must-try foods in Florence. They were excited that we found the Mercato Centrale on our first day in Florence because many tourists tend to miss this experience.

Getting Gelato

After lunch, we started walking towards our meeting spot with Michael, and we popped into a Gelato spot (For those who are reading the entire trip report, yes, I basically had coffee and gelato every day).

Michael told us that if we are getting gelato and the lemon is bright yellow, run away! The gelato is not high quality, and the lemon should be a light yellow, white color.

Of course - we had to take a street selfie with our last Gelato in Italy! Naturally, I got a hazelnut gelato.

Driving to Pisa

The moment we got in the car, the heavens opened, and it began to rain. Pisa is about 30 minutes from Livorno, so we saved seeing the tower for last. The drive from Florence to Pisa was a full rainy hour, and we saw tons of tourists on the interstate all falling asleep in their private vans like us. I do have to say. When getting from point A to B in the rain, it is great to have your own private driver in a foreign country!

Leaning Tower of Pisa

After our road trip, we arrived in the town of Pisa! The rain ceased, and we were ready to see one of the most famous sites in Italy.

When getting out of the car, Michael gave us two tips: 1 Do not buy anything from the street vendors since it is illegal to buy from them 2. Do not sign any petitions because it is a scam where they ask you for money. Taking our tour guide’s tip to heart, we strolled over to the Leaning Tower.

The Leaning Tower is not handicapable, so we opted to walk around the grounds and take photos of the tower. The summer storm in the background allowed us to get some interesting shots - so I’m pretty happy that it rained on this day of vacation!

After taking our typical tourist shots, we strolled around the town square to do a little shopping. As we’ve gotten older, we’ve bought fewer souvenirs. Most of the time we just buy some food products, wine or beer, clothes, or coffee mugs. While we were in Florence, Ally fell in love with all of the Pinocchios, so she bought us each a small souvenir to remember our time in Italy by.

Beware of scams while Sightseeing.

On our way back to Michael’s vans, we ended up seeing a group of men asking for people to sign petitions. I noticed that some people were signing the petition and after a brief discussion handed over some cash. Even though I don’t sign petitions back home, I was glad that Michael gave us the warning.

Back on the Ship

We had so much fun with Michael all day. He was very into cars and thoroughly explained the difference between all of the Fiats. He even tried teaching us a little Italian all day and explained the difference between Ciao and Arrivederci.

Michael explained to us that Ciao is reserved for friends and you should only use it when you are with someone you know. He then dropped us off at the ship and gave each of us hugs because we were friends after spending a whole day together.

Pirate’s Night Dinner in Lumiere's

In Alaska, we didn’t have a Pirate’s Night, we had a Frozen night. I was so excited to see everyone dressed up in their pirate gear. We asked our server if we were supposed to wear our costumes to dinner or just to the deck party and he told us after (just to let you know there were tons of people dressed up to the 9s in their pirate costumes!)

For an appetizer, I had the Lightly breaded baked eggplant filled with Sweet Ricotta and Mozzarella served on Sauce.

Learning early on that I am not a fan of any of the soups but love salads, I asked to get the Smoked Duck Breast Salad (without the duck) with Frisee, Lollo Rosso, Radicchio leaves with walnuts and shredded apples topped with a creamy lemon dressing.

My entree was the Fettuccine with Parmesan Crusted Chicken, Chicken encrusted in Parmesan Cheese with Sweet Peppers and Mushrooms in a cheddar cheese sauce.

Finally, My Dessert was the Chocolate Lava Cake served with Double Chocolate Sauce and Vanilla Ice cream.

Pirate’s Night

Excited for the “late night” Pirates in the Caribbean Deck Party, we returned to our cabin to get ready for the excitement. Allison went to bed early because she wasn’t feeling well and I went to the deck party myself.
Being more of an observer than someone participating in the Deck Party, Pirates night is fun! All of the kids are hopped up on sugar and dancing all over the pool deck.

Pirate Night lasts from 10:15-11 pm and there is a pirate buffet from 10:#0-11:15 pm in cabanas. I wasn’t really hungry, and I wanted to see these exclusive fireworks at sea so I positioned myself in a good spot so I could see everything that was going on with the deck party but would also get a good shot of the fireworks.

Immediately after the show was over, everyone rushed to Cabanas for the feast. I grabbed a couple of things to bring to the room - A Disney Turkey Leg, two small burritos, Ice cream, cheesecake, cookies and a tart. Mom and I had a small feast in the room lulling us to sleep to prepare for the next day of visiting France and Monaco.


As always -- please head over to the blog post to see all the photos Hope y'all are enjoying this trip report! https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/florence-pisa/ feel free to share on social media!
 
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Time for Nice and Monaco! As always -- please head over to the blog post to see all the photos Hope y'all are enjoying this trip report! https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/nice-and-monaco-in-one-day/ feel free to share on social media!


Disney Magic Nice and Monaco

On our fourth and final excursion day, the Disney Magic left Italy and headed towards France! I was very excited to spend some time in Nice and Monaco and couldn’t wait to get back to sightseeing and exploring another country (well technically two!).

Port Adventures for Nice and Monaco

For the trip that we are on, the Disney Magic docked in Cannes rather than Nice. Due to that, we had to tender to port. This was my first time tendering on a cruise, and I was extremely nervous! Instead of booking private drivers like I did for all of Italy, I decided that our family would do a Port Excursion through Disney. After looking at all of our options, we opted to sign up for the Value Package – Nice & Monaco – Adult Departure Only (CN15).

Tendering to Cannes

I didn’t know what to expect, but the process went very smoothly. We showed up to Fathoms where we met our tour group, checked in, and waited for the tour to bring us out to the tender. Once our group was called, we went down to Deck 1 to get on the tender. Lucky for us, the water wasn’t too rocky, and we were able to go down the stairs and get a seat quickly on the boat.

I have to say - this port was one of the prettiest ports on the cruise! I loved looking back towards the Disney Magic and seeing it in a backdrop of beauty instead of in an industrial port.

Arriving to our Tour Bus

Luckily for us, we were on the all Adult only tour, and it wasn’t a full bus. We grabbed our seats, and once everyone arrived, our bus was the first one out of the parking lot. After our guide introduced herself to us, we took a 75-minute ride to Nice to explore one of the prettiest destinations on our trip!

Exploring Nice - in 60 minutes

After everyone got out of the bus, we took a stroll down to the Old Town Nice soaking in all of our surroundings. Let me just say, when you are doing an excursion with a group 60 minutes escapes you so quickly!

We walked around Old Town and immediately found the market where we decided to buy a couple of delicious treats both for a second breakfast and so that we would have a quick lunch in Monaco. Our tour guide told us that the prices in Nice would be significantly cheaper than Monaco, so we followed her advice and bought all of our snacks here.

While we were in the Old Market, we explored all of the stands that contained delicious sweets, sandwiches, or vegetables. After deciding on our sandwiches for later in the day, we grabbed some croissants and some macaroons to eat while walking around. Of course, since we were in Europe, we popped into a cafe to enjoy coffees before continuing on with our day.

We were running out of time and needed to get back on the bus, so Ally and I split up from mom to go look at Nice’s famed pebbled beach. After soaking in the beautiful scenery, Ally and I promised that we would return to Nice one day soon.

Trying to get back to the bus on time, we ended up putting mom in the transport chair and running through Nice. Now, how many of y’all can say that you ran through Nice! We saw our tour guide, and she called us “Lady! Lady!” to get our attention. When we met up, I was running so fast with mom, that the tour guide was impressed that we ran through the gardens to get to the bus on time. After all of the racing through Nice, we were only 3 minutes late, and the rest of the day we ensured we were on the bus on time!

Traveling from Nice To Monaco

Back on the motorcoach, we continued our tour from Nice to Monaco - our fourth country on this cruise! The trip took just over 45 minutes because the traffic wasn’t bad. During this drive, we went through gut-wrenching twists and turns with stunning vistas and views. It reminded me of driving on Highway 1 in California, but I was happy to not be the one driving.

Princess Grace and the Riviera Car Crash

While the bus was clinging to the road, we learned and drove past the town of Eze. While we were driving, our tour guide gave us the full detailed story about Princess Grace of Monaco, formerly Grace Kelly, car crash and death in 1982.

After learning everything about the late Princess Grace, we continued on our way to Monaco - the second smallest country in the World.

Exploring Monaco

One of my favorite things about Monaco is that they know that tourists and visitors come to their country, and they built adequate parking structures to hold the large buses that many visitors on cruise excursions take. Our first stop in Monaco we were given 90 minutes to explore the area around the Oceanographic Museum, the Monaco Cathedral, and the Prince’s Palace. We took this time to soak in the sunshine and the stunning views.

After having lunch under a tree, we walked around on the streets popping into shops and eventually walking down to the gardens for a quick stroll.

Boarding the Bus to explore Monte Carlo

Probably one of the most frustrating and hilarious parts of the trip was us trying to navigate the Monte Carlo area. Let me be frank, this tour is not handicapable, but we usually can push through lots of areas that are not technically handicapable. Many of the people on our adults only tour (because frankly, Ally and I were the youngest) were winded with the steep stairs that we had to take to see the Monte Carlo. I told our guide we were just going to skip the Monte Carlo central area, but she insisted on helping us walk up the hill to the spot we wanted to get to.

Once we arrived in front of the casino, our tour guide took our passports to run it to the Office du Tourisme (2 Boulevard des Moulins), so we could get our Monte Carlo Stamp cancellation. This cancelation requires a bit of effort because there is no border checkpoint. The Cancelation is a beautiful Scarlett stamp, and if you visit Monaco, I recommend getting a stamp from the second smallest country.

We were given an additional hour of free time while we were in the Monte Carlo Area.

Ride back to Cannes

We took the bus back to Cannes, and our tour guide told us some stories about her time living in Nice and working in Monaco. After the 75 minute trip back to Cannes, it was time to get back on board the Disney Magic. We forgot to purchase wine while we were in Nice, but we had so much left over from Italy that it was ok.

Value Package – Nice & Monaco – Adult Departure Only (CN15)

Even though I enjoyed our guide, we were totally spoiled by our private guides in Italy. If we were on a private tour, we would have had the flexibility to stay longer in Nice and skip Monte Carlo altogether. Since I was nervous about tendering, I realized that it really isn’t that big of a deal as long as you get to the boat on time.

Eating an Animators Palate

One of the dinners I was excited about was the Animation Magic Show at Animator's Palate. During our cruise to Alaska, we missed this dinner because we had reservations at Palo, but on this cruise, we made sure we didn’t have reservations during this dinner.

The menu for Animators Palate Animation Magic is slightly smaller than menus on other days, and there aren’t as many choices because the waiters need to have enough time between dinner and dessert for us to watch our animated shorts.

For my appetizer, I got the Tomato, Spaghetti, and Meatball Soup with basil. Now I know what you are going to say - you HATE the soups on the Disney Cruise. Well, this one was actually good because there are actual chunks of meat in the soup.

My main course was the Chicken Schnitzel, a breaded chicken Breast fried in Butter, served with roasted bacon potatoes and buttered green beans.

For dessert, we had to order the Celebration Cake and the Very Cherry Chocolate Sunday. The Celebration Cake has Layers of Cheesecake covered with Strawberries, embedded in Rich Vanilla Cream and White Chocolate. The Very Cherry Chocolate Sundae has Vanilla Ice Cream topped with Dark Cherry compote, chocolate fudge sauce, and whipped cream.

After Dinner

After Dinner we had the option to go see Disney Dreams - An Enchanted Classic or relax since we had already seen Disney Dreams on the Disney Wonder, we skipped the play to hang out on our balcony. This trip was had long excursion days which made us want to just collapse in our beds after dinner.

Since we decided to skip the movie, we watched Tangled and finally understood all of the references in Rapunzel’s Royal Table. After watching the movie, Ally and Mom’s favorite song is “I see the Light.”

The next day, we didn’t need to get ready for anything in particular since it was a Sea Day and soon to be the end of our epic trip.



Time for Nice and Monaco! As always -- please head over to the blog post to see all the photos Hope y'all are enjoying this trip report! https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/nice-and-monaco-in-one-day/ feel free to share on social media!
 
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Y'all -- its the last blog post of this trip report. I'm so sad....mostly because I don't have another blog post coming up.

As always please check out my blog post for the photos and feel free to share the content on social media (it helps me out so much!). https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-last-day/

Our last day on the Disney Magic was a Sea Day which is always a great way to end a cruise. If you didn’t have time to relax during the cruise, this day you can take to relax and ensure that your bag is packed - which is basically what we did!

Relaxing by the pool

Our first sea day was overcast and actually kinda chilly! We had two alcohol tastings on that first day, so it was a jam-packed day. Instead this sea day our mission was to relax, pack, and tackle the slides and adult pool since we did not have that opportunity while we were in Alaska or on the first Sea Day.

Adult Only Area

We wandered over to the adult only area where we ordered the drink of the day - Mai Tais! I found that these drinks had a decent amount of alcohol in them, so we only ordered one, but it was fun to relax by the pool, read a book, and catch some sun rays.

While we were out there, we talked to some of our neighbors on the lounge chairs and found that people saw whales, sharks, and dolphins earlier in the day! We missed them on this trip, but later on, in the evening, we were able to see some dolphins in the distance.

After a quick nap by the pool, we wandered back to the room to change for our Chocolate and Liquor Tasting (my favorite tasting so far!).

Chocolate and Liquor Tasting

The chocolate and Liquor tasting on the Disney Magic was by far my favorite tasting I’ve taken between the Wonder and the Magic! We were seated right next to our table mates that we met the night before, and the five of us had a blast tasting everything and laughing.

We had four different pairings to taste. The Flamingo Moet & Chandon Rose Imperial Champagne with the melted white chocolate. The Amoureux by Lasseter Malbec-Cabernet Sauvignon with dark, white and milk chocolate. A ten-year-old Tawny Port by Noval with a delicious piece of parmesan cheese. And finally, we wrapped up the tasting with the Signet Glenmorangie Scotch Whisky.

My favorite thing about this tasting was that everything complimented each other. The different chocolates, caramels, and parmesan really brought out all of the different flavors of each liquor. Because of this tasting, we bought a few bottles of Moet & Chandon Champagne when we got back home to New Orleans.

Lunch at Cabanas on the Disney Magic

After our noon liquor tasting, we had to run to Cabanas again to make sure that we made it to lunch! I know there are a ton of activities going on around the ship, and lots of food options besides Cabanas and Lumiere's but I wish that the liquor tasting wasn’t open the same exact time that lunch is open.

My favorite thing about Cabanas is able to grab a bunch of random junk food and some healthy food to make a well-balanced meal. I must have been carbo-loading for something because I grabbed two different types of macaroni and cheese - one was an adult style, and another was kid style, mini-corn dogs (my favorite!), Lo Mein noodles, green beans, a small side salad, and crabs - lots of crabs.

Riding the Twist ‘n Spout and Aqua Dunk

One thing we didn’t have the chance to do was to ride the two slides located on the Disney Magic. Being that we are in our 30s, we were really nervous that we were ‘too big’ to ride on the slides that we called guest services to figure out if there was a size or weight limit on the slide.

Luckily, there are some rules, but we fit within those rules of weighing less than 300 pounds.

The two slide options include the Twist ‘n Spout and the Aqua Dunk. For the Twist ‘n Spout, you must be at least 38 inches tall. The waterslide is perfect for those who are too short, or scared of the Aqua Dunk but are still looking for the excitement of a water slide. The Twist ‘n Spout is located right above the AquaLab.

The Aqua Dunk is not for the faint of heart. You must be at least 48 inches tall to ride this ride and be very brave. Somehow, I lost Ally between the two slides, and I thought she went over to the Aqua Dunk before I got down the slide. I climbed up the stairs looking for Ally, and that is when I realized, she wasn’t anywhere near the slide - I needed to go down it to figure out where she was.

The Aqua Dunk is slightly scary if you do not know what you are getting yourself into. After seeing some of the kids go down the slide. I knew I was going to be ok. You merely have to stand on a platform, cross your legs, and wait for Donald Duck’s nephews count down 3-2-1- before a platform falls out beneath you.

Seven seconds later you have sailed over the ocean, through a clear tube and landed in a small splash pad pool. The Aqua Dunk was so much fun that Ally and I went down it a couple of times - even though we were the oldest ones on the slide!

Packing and Housekeeping on the Disney Magic

Packing is always stressful on the last day of vacation, and being in a cruise room is not any different. We took the afternoon to pack up all of our items so we could have a relaxing evening. We opted to do the express walk off instead of disembarking with the rest of the cruise ship because we find it easier for our family.

I also took this time before dinner to settle my bill with guest services. I saved a ton of money on gift cards over the past 12 months while saving for this cruise, and I wanted to use all of those gift cards on all onboard incidentals I incurred while on the ship. It's much better to do this on sea day while the line is still short because when we left on disembarkation day, the line was very long of stressed passengers.

After packing, it was time to head to dinner, and we made a little towel animal with my sister's hat, our gratuity, and our sunglasses. Our hostess loved the impromptu towel animal and gave us extra chocolates, shampoos, and conditioners as a thank you!

Dinner at Rapunzel’s Royal Table

Our last evening was in Rapunzel’s Royal Table, and we had the Lantern menu. Excited to actually get the jokes, characters, and songs going on int he restaurant, we were prepared for a great evening.

I started off the evening with the Crisp Isle of Corona Shrimp with Pea puree, fried potato, pancetta, and pea shoots served with lemon-tarragon caper mayonnaise.

My second course was the Romain Wedge and JHot Smoked Salmon Salad -- but I asked for no Salmon. The salad came with raspberries, candied pecans, and brie cheese served with a creamy lemon- parsley dressing.

My entree was the tangled pasta which has angel hair pasta tossed in basil-pesto with caramelized sea scallops (which I asked to be removed), roasted vine tomatoes, and a sun-dried tomato tapenade with roasted Meyer lemon.

We also ordered the Spinach Zucchini Eggplant, and Ricotta filled potato Crepes baked in a tomato provencale sauce and topped with buffalo mozzarella cheese and basil.

I ended the night with a delicious Mickey Bar - because they are just so good and the rest of the desserts were not striking my fancy.

Disembarking the Disney Magic to the Barcelona Airport

Our last day of vacation, and final day on the Disney Magic - what a sad day! But we needed to head out to the airport so we could make it back to our hometown of New Orleans.

We opted to do the express-walk off, which meant we could get off of the boat as soon as it was announced. It also said that we were not going to have any help with our luggage, which was a bummer because one of our bags has a busted wheel (don’t worry, I found a replacement wheel on Amazon, and it was fixed quickly!).

We were also nervous about making it to the Barcelona Airport on time because there were a lot of other cruise ships that were ending their tours at the same time. We didn't like taking multi-stop lights and had two choices, a 10:30 am through Atlanta or a 12:10 pm through New York.

After walking off of the Disney Magic, we quickly jumped into a taxi, and we were whisked away to the airport.

Barcelona Airport

Our family decided that even though it would be a long day, we were going to fly through New York and take the noon flight. I’m glad that we did because even though we arrived at the airport hours early, everyone in the Atlanta line looked stressed out trying to check their bags internationally.

Even though it appeared that everyone made the Atlanta flight, trying to get from the Disney Magic to the plane would have been a headache. Taking the later flight allowed us to relax at the gate, buy a couple of souvenirs from Duty-Free and get on our flight stress-free.

We were seated at the back of the plane, no first class upgrade for us, and we were so far in the back that we didn’t have a choice in food, but the food in the back of the plane wasn’t bad at all!



As always please check out my blog post for the photos and feel free to share the content on social media (it helps me out so much!). https://plaidshirtyogapants.com/disney-magic-last-day/
 
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Bumping this up in case anyone is on the cruise or doing last minute planning! I can’t believe it’s been a year 😭
 
Hi---loved reading your trip report, as it gave me a very accurate picture of what we could expect on this cruise. We have cruised with DCL 15 times, but looking at Med cruise for the first time. There is obviously so much to see and do in these ports, and we would want to do excusions to get the most out of our visit to this part of the world. About how much, roughly, would you say, that you had to spend for the private tours for your family? Would want to do this cruise justice, but sounds like we have to figure in quite a bit for excusions (on top of price of cruise). Also, how did you begin researching to find the tour guides that you ended up going with? Thanks!
 
Hi---loved reading your trip report, as it gave me a very accurate picture of what we could expect on this cruise. We have cruised with DCL 15 times, but looking at Med cruise for the first time. There is obviously so much to see and do in these ports, and we would want to do excusions to get the most out of our visit to this part of the world. About how much, roughly, would you say, that you had to spend for the private tours for your family? Would want to do this cruise justice, but sounds like we have to figure in quite a bit for excusions (on top of price of cruise). Also, how did you begin researching to find the tour guides that you ended up going with? Thanks!

Oh goodness! I just saw this today!

The private tours cost us about 750 euros each day (for three people) if we had more people it would have been less per person but it was perfect for our family because we could do whatever we want and get around town easier. Mom actually had a hip replacement this past summer (June 2019) and we didn't know that she needed it when we were on this cruise!

We did everything with Italy Tours.
 

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