Our Magical "It's All Part of the Adventure" London + 10-Night Med Cruise - July 2018 - Completed!

[tink1970]

Since we booked our rooms through DCL, a buffet breakfast was included. It was a very big breakfast with traditional meats, cheeses, fruits, pastries, eggs, etc. You could even get fresh squeezed orange juice.

I really wish I had remembered/known this! Dh and I ended up having McDonald's at the mall across the street. Oh well...

We had some time before dinner, so DJ, DT and I went across the street to a mall which had a grocery store.

I think DH went to this mall 4 times in the 23 hours we were there. I had a headache and he kept going back for caffeine!

I love hearing my family’s name welcomed onboard. I missed that on our last cruise.

That's funny...I hate it so we always sneak on board and tell them to ignore us

We walked down the 2 flights of stairs to deck 7 and room 7120, which would be our home for the next 10 nights.

Y'all left it in good condition! We were on the 5 day right after you in the same cabin. I was reading along and thought "no way...she's in my room!"

The first thing I did was grab my bag of laundry to head to the laundry room on deck 7. I admit, I haven’t done a lot of laundry on the ships, and it has changed since the last time I did laundry.

I thought I was pretty up to date but was surprised by the change in laundry procedure too. I had to laugh at the Laundry Commander...there's always one.

I was so disappointed. When it was time to blow my beloved horn, we got 3 short blasts instead

I noticed that last year when we left Dover, too. It is a disappointment for some reason.

I ended up saving about $1300.

Congrats! I thought about reshopping our NYE cruise for 2019 but decided not to. Good thing since I came home and bumped it to concierge

 

[Disneyfriend]

Your trip report is absolutely lovely. Such great pictures!! Your fellow Phoenician can't wait to follow you on this trip!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Y'all left it in good condition! We were on the 5 day right after you in the same cabin. I was reading along and thought "no way...she's in my room!"

Oh my goodness, what a small world, you were in my room! I love that room and have it booked for my Alaska cruise on the Wonder!

 

[FSU Girl]

Joining in! Your trip so far looks like so much fun! The part about the horn not playing the normal Disney tunes, when I sailed on the Magic I experienced that where they only blasted the horn. I've only heard the music on the Dream. I wonder if it has to do with the ports or it just wasn't working on the ship?

I love all the pictures so far and can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Joining in! Your trip so far looks like so much fun! The part about the horn not playing the normal Disney tunes, when I sailed on the Magic I experienced that where they only blasted the horn. I've only heard the music on the Dream. I wonder if it has to do with the ports or it just wasn't working on the ship?

I love all the pictures so far and can't wait to read about the rest of your trip!

Thanks for following along. According to my DH, the horn was working because he heard it on the last sea day. They blow the horn at noon. Of course, I was inside and didn't hear it. The Magic and Wonder don't have the music like the Dream/Fantasy, just the horn tones that play "When you wish upon a star."

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 9 – Marseille, France
Sunday, July 8, 2018

DNC booked a tour with Provence Connections for 7 of us. DT and DR booked late on the cruise and we were unable to add them to our private port excursions. All of private excursions include us, our neighbors and DJ. It was originally supposed to be a 7 hour tour of Marseilles, Aix En Provence and Cassis. Unfortunately, from the time we booked the tour to the time we arrived, DCL shortened the port time by an hour. Something had to go, so we decided to see Cassis for forego Aix En Provence.

As is my custom, I was up early (6:40 AM) and out on the verandah as we pulled into port.

We got up, got ready and headed up to Cabanas for breakfast. It was a beautiful day in Marseilles.

We had arranged to meet at 7:45 AM to start making our way off of the ship to meet our tour guide. We were told by DCL to take our passports with us off the ship and we would get off at Deck 1 forward.

While we waited for our driver, there were a couple of shops so I purchased a visor and a tea towel. This area in France is known for their good quality linens.

Our driver, Noelle, arrived on time with a mini tour bus that would hold the wheelchair and 7 of us. We headed out. We passed an art gallery

She took us to a place where we had a great view of the basilica.

Noelle told us that Marseilles just start accepting cruise ships in 2013 after winning an award for tourism. The port was not very busy. She took us to a small market in downtown near the old port.

There were several vendor selling jewelry, handmade soaps, macaroons and fresh fish. In honor of their award, Marseilles built a large canopy at the end of the marketplace. It was made with a black reflective material, which when standing underneath would reflect the image.

After doing a bit of shopping and getting some macaroons, mine was lemon, it was delicious and not as sweet as they are here.

we headed up to Marseille’s crowning glory, the Baslique Notre-Dame-de-la Garde.

The basilica offered great views of Marseille.

You could see the Chatteau d’If, which is a prison on the small island and was made famous as the setting for Alexandre Dumas’ story “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

We arrived at the Basilica just as morning mass was ending. Noelle was able to get us close to the entrance for the wheelchair.

Walking around the outside of the basilica you got to see the more green and mountainous side of Marseilles.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 9 (Continued)

We went in the church briefly. The basilica has a distinct nautical theme since Marseilles is a port town.

Walking outside

Here is where the basilica was damaged from WWII

The gold statue on top of the basilica

After visiting the special Basilica, as Noelle called it, we headed into the mountains. The scenery was lovely. The mountains are where people from Marseille go to get away. We were headed towards the peak on the top of this picture.

We ended up at a National Park.

Which had this view of Cassis!

It was simply stunning I have never seen such beautiful blue water before. . Noelle picked some fresh rosemary that grew wild, it smelled heavenly. We hung around for a little bit and then headed down into town. Noelle recommended a place to eat lunch right on the beach called La Grande Large.

This was the view from our table.

Lamb was their specialty and the waiter recommended a local white wine. We had actual French bread, in France! DNC ordered calamari, which marinated instead of breaded. Everything was delicious.

After the incredible lunch, we went searching for some of the local desserts that Marseille is known for. First, they are known for their almonds. They make Huiles d’olives, which is basically an almond covered in dark or white chocolate and a candy coating colored to resemble an olive.

Our next goal was to find some tropezziene, which was basically a custard brioche tart. We found the bakery and bought some mini tropezzienes. They came in vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. They were amazing!

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 9 (Continued)

Cassis was a wonderful town full of character.

It was time to head back to the ship. We arrived back to port at about 4:00 PM.

When we got back to the port, we were greeted with ice cold cloths to cool down with and fruit infused ice cold water to choose from. What a nice touch. Thank you DCL! One of the French security guards had a dog and took a shine to DNM. He escorted her through the wheelchair security entrance.

At 5:00 PM, the Magic pulled away from port.

We had dinner in Animator’s Palate.

Tonight was the color show with a special guest at the end.

DH had the Blueberrilicious. It was so good, I ordered one too!

DD had the Bora Shake.

I skipped the Appetizer and went straight for the Baked Potato Cheddar Cheese Soup. It was very good.

I ordered the Pennete Bolognese.

Then it was time to order dessert.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 9 (Continued)

The restaurant had completed its color change.

Then Sorcerer Mickey showed up.

I ordered the Lemon Icebox Pie for dessert. I normally love lemon desserts, but this one wasn’t that good.

After dinner DD and I went to get a picture with Donald in his French outfit. Then we headed to Fathoms to see JunNk at 7:45 PM. DNM is a huge fan and gets her picture with them every time she sees them. She even has a JunNk t-shirt.

They were really good and very entertaining. I enjoyed their show very much. After JunNk, we headed to the Walt Disney Theater to see Twice Charmed at 8:45 PM.

Whew! It was a very busy day, after Twice Charmed, we were ready to head back to our room. On the way back to our room, we caught this sunset.

This towel animal waited for us.

We had a wonderful first day in France. Our tour guide was fabulous and we very much enjoyed strolling through and learning the culinary secrets that Cassis had to offer.

Next: Wouldn’t it be Nice!

 

[FSU Girl]

You could see the Chatteau d’If, which is a prison on the small island and was made famous as the setting for Alexandre Dumas’ story “The Count of Monte Cristo.”

I love that movie. This city makes me think of the movie. I hope to make it there one day.

That is an interesting way to prepare calamari, I've only had it fried, but this looks really good.

I definitely like Animators Palate more on the Magic than I did on the Dream. The way they have the whole room turn to color is so cool.

 

[ksack]

So excited to start reading this!! My daughter and I just returned from Europe last month from her tour with Wisconsin Ambassador of Music program!!

Can’t wait to read more!!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

So excited to start reading this!! My daughter and I just returned from Europe last month from her tour with Wisconsin Ambassador of Music program!!

Can’t wait to read more!!

Thanks for reading!

Wow, how lucky you got to go to Europe! Arizona took over 325 band and choir kids from all across the state and not one single parent got to chaperone. I hope your daughter had as much fun as mine did!

 

[ksack]

I finally made the time to read everything so far and your trip report blows me away! I can’t wait to read more!

First your DD did Ambassadors, then to find out she’s Type 1, like my DS, who will be 12 when we go next summer; to seeing everything you got to see in London brought back so many wonderful memories! Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time in the places we went, but as I kept saying they were only whetting our appetites for future travel! We would have loved to see HP, but it didn’t happen...

I am very thankful I got to go with... between band and choir students we had almost 350, plus the other family & staff that went...

I am curious as to how you handled DD diabetes and all of the travel/dining you did... DS is getting an Omnipod pump next month, so we will have to be figuring all of this out...

 

[disneyfaninaz]

I finally made the time to read everything so far and your trip report blows me away! I can’t wait to read more!

First your DD did Ambassadors, then to find out she’s Type 1, like my DS, who will be 12 when we go next summer; to seeing everything you got to see in London brought back so many wonderful memories! Unfortunately we didn’t have a lot of time in the places we went, but as I kept saying they were only whetting our appetites for future travel! We would have loved to see HP, but it didn’t happen...

I am very thankful I got to go with... between band and choir students we had almost 350, plus the other family & staff that went...

I am curious as to how you handled DD diabetes and all of the travel/dining you did... DS is getting an Omnipod pump next month, so we will have to be figuring all of this out...

Thanks!

Oh my, it truly is a small world. DD was amazed how many other type 1's we ran into on the cruise. Several of them were on our excursions.

DD has had diabetes for almost 9 years. She has been pumping for 8 1/2 of those years. She is totally independent with her care. When her pump warranty is up next spring she will be getting one of the smarter pumps that can predict lows. Traveling is always a challenge, but her CGM helped a lot when she went to Europe last year and on this trip. The tricky thing was bolusing for meals. Europe tends to put less sugars in their foods, so what we would normally bolus for her here is too high for Europe. We also had a harder time finding fast working sugars (on tours, not on the ship) for when she went low. For instance, Coca Cola has about half the sugar that American Coca Cola has. However, gelato worked well. If your DS doesn't have a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), I would highly recommend one before you travel next year. It will really help. Otherwise, its just a lot of "wagging" (wild a** guessing)!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Speaking of traveling with a diabetic, traveling with insulin is always a tricky business. When DD traveled to Europe last year, her insulin got too warm and by the time she got home, it had all gone bad. Knowing that we were going to be about 24 hours before I could refrigerate the insulin we brought, I used the following hack.

First, I bought a MedAngel. The device, with an app on your phone and bluetooth, will show you what temperature the insulin is and if it is in a safe range.

Next, I bought a Hydroflask food container. They are supposed to keep things cool for at least 24 hours.

I cut some small pieces of small bubble wrap to protect the vials from breaking and used reuseable ice cubes to keep them cool.

For the most part it worked really well. By the time we finally got into our room in London, the insulin was in the 70's, but in range. The refrigerator never got cooler than 50 degrees, but it kept the insulin cool enough. When we arrived in Barcelona, I couldn't access the fridge, so I just put a ziplock baggie full of ice in the container and it kept the insulin cool during the day until I could open the fridge.

While touring, we carried a bottle of insulin with us in a FRIO pack.

In addition, I had no problem going through US security with the flask. In London, we waited until after we were past security to put the insulin and a baggie of ice into the container.

Overall, I was pleased with the performance of the MedAngel and using the Hydroflask. I will definitely use it again when traveling.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 10 – Villefranche, France

Monday, July 9, 2018

As usual, I was up at 6:00 AM grabbing my camera and heading to the verandah. We were just getting into Villefranche.

By the time I showered and dressed, we were anchored just outside Villefranche. We would be tendering into port today.

Our plan today was to visit Villefranche, Eze, Monaco and Nice. We had a private tour scheduled with Driver in Rome at 8:30. We went to breakfast at Cabanas and ate outside.

Here is DD’s breakfast. Who doesn’t’ t like Mickey Mouse waffles?

Since we were tendering and not with a DCL excursion, we were to meet at the Buena Vista Theater at 7:30 AM to get a boarding number so we could get a tender off of the ship.

Shortly after 7:30 AM we were taken down to Deck 1 Aft where there was a ramp available for wheelchairs to get on the tender boat.

By 8:00 we were in Villefranche. There were DCL photographers there and we got a group photo. We then made it out of the very small terminal to the parking lot and waiting for our tour guide.

Our driver, Frederick, arrived on time and we loaded up to head out for the day. Our first stop, Monaco! Frederick lived in Villefranche so he was very knowledgeable about the area and pointed out several residences of famous people along the way.

The first place he took us was an overlook.

We then arrived in Monaco.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 10 (Continued)

Our driver dropped us off in front of the St. Nicholas Cathedral and gave us some time to look around. He pointed out where we could get our passports stamped, but alas, they were closed for the day. Anyway, with the exception of one DCL tour, we beat everybody else there and the streets were quiet.

We went in to the cathedral and found Princess Grace’s grave, but I felt funny taking pictures, so we didn’t take any. Afterwards, we walked towards the palace.

The Monaco Post Office.

Frederick picked us up and we went through Monte Carlo, following the path of the Grand Prix.

The Hotel de Paris

The famous casino.

Climbing the famous road out of Monte Carlo. Has anybody else seen “To Catch a Thief” with Grace Kelly and Cary Grant?

We passed by the spot where Princess Grace was killed in a car accident.

We drove by Eze on our way to Nice. Frederick stopped at an old Roman ruin. Unfortunately, it was closed, but did afford a beautiful view of the coast as well as a really cool echo effect if you stood in the center of the star.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 10 (Continued)

We arrived in Nice.

Frederick dropped us off by the water and went to park the van. We walked around until Frederick met us at the Antiques Market and recommended a place for lunch.

I noticed that the beaches were not sandy, but rather rocky. I wondered if this is where the original Hot Rock Massage came from?

We walked by what was once a palace.

Down some more streets.

They have Carnival like in Rio.

See the camel?

Frederick recommended an Italian restaurant, of all things, in Nice and joined us for lunch. It was called La Voglia (the g is not pronounced). We ordered Diavolo Pizzas to share (basically pepperoni). A first for us, the waiter told us that we didn’t order enough for 8 people, so we ordered a pasta dish to share.

After lunch we walked back to a linen shop and got some linens made in France.

I saw one of these types of domes in every city we went to.

To be continued. . .

 

[Disneyfriend]

Loving your report. I am anxious to see how the rest of your French Riviera day turned out. I'm debating whether or not to attempt Monaco/Monte Carlo at all on our day, or just concentrate on other places such as Nice, Enze, etc. (I'm leaning towards skipping the Monaco/Monte Carlo combo.) For our itinerary, we are docking in Cannes, so a little further away from Monaco anyway.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Loving your report. I am anxious to see how the rest of your French Riviera day turned out. I'm debating whether or not to attempt Monaco/Monte Carlo at all on our day, or just concentrate on other places such as Nice, Enze, etc. (I'm leaning towards skipping the Monaco/Monte Carlo combo.) For our itinerary, we are docking in Cannes, so a little further away from Monaco anyway.

We really didn't spend that much time in Monaco, so for your itinerary, I wouldn't worry about spending any time there. It was cool to drive through, but we didn't take the time to tour the palace, casino or aquarium.