A magical Mediterranean vacation live report UPDATED 7/15 About This Page:

[mcc0313]

So glad that all the excurisons and meal choices fell into place so easily. What wonderful choices you have with your tours and a bunch and dinner at Palo sounds perfect.

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by chezp

Maybe that's why they're coming back so early. In a way, it bothers me, but in a way it doesn't, as it means that we'll be back on the ship for the hotter part of the day.

I know, but Athens of all places to be cut short.... oh, well. You definitely won't have time for the view from Lycabettos, then.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

I know, but Athens of all places to be cut short.... oh, well. You definitely won't have time for the view from Lycabettos, then.

I think you probably know my philosophy by now, especially with this cruise. If we like somewhere we go to, we can always go back. Easyjet pretty much fly to most European destinations from Gatwick, so a long weekend isn't out of the question for us. I view this as a taster to see what we like and where we want to go back to - hence our return visit to Florence this time around, as that was one place I really wanted to go back to, and of course we went back to Sorrento, and Pompeii last year and took in a few other places in the area too that we didn't get a chance to see in a day.

[Thomhazel]

We found Florence beautiful last year but we found we couldn't do a lot in one go because of the heat we got exhausted quickly. I think a taster then come back at a cooler time of year is a good strategy.

So glad you manage to get everything booked and you didn't have to pay that price increase. Yikes the Europe cruises are expensive.

[chezp]

Originally Posted by Thomhazel

We found Florence beautiful last year but we found we couldn't do a lot in one go because of the heat we got exhausted quickly. I think a taster then come back at a cooler time of year is a good strategy.

Fingers crossed, it won't be too hot for us while we're there...

So glad you manage to get everything booked and you didn't have to pay that price increase. Yikes the Europe cruises are expensive.

They certainly are. I can't believe how cheap the Alaskan cruise for next year is looking by comparison...

[KMB733]

Sounds like you've got some wonderful plans!

[lauriep]

Originally Posted by chezp

I think you probably know my philosophy by now, especially with this cruise. If we like somewhere we go to, we can always go back. Easyjet pretty much fly to most European destinations from Gatwick, so a long weekend isn't out of the question for us. I view this as a taster to see what we like and where we want to go back to - hence our return visit to Florence this time around, as that was one place I really wanted to go back to, and of course we went back to Sorrento, and Pompeii last year and took in a few other places in the area too that we didn't get a chance to see in a day.

You're right, of course, and there's no way you'd get more than just an overview even with a longer day in port. I'm hoping for wonderful weather for you so at least on the drives from port into the day's destinations you'll have some good views.

[SuperDave]

Nice going on the excursion bookings and the Palo reservations! Sounds like some great plans and hopefully you're not packing too much in, that way you'll have plenty of free time and not rushing around too much! Glad you were able to get the hotel in Padova you wanted.

[lfredsbo]

Just signing in and caught up! This trip sounds amazing! I got really excited at first when you mentioned Sardinia.....I lived there as a child for a couple years (father was in the Navy), and want to revisit there so bad!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lauriep

You're right, of course, and there's no way you'd get more than just an overview even with a longer day in port. I'm hoping for wonderful weather for you so at least on the drives from port into the day's destinations you'll have some good views.

Keep your fingers crossed for us on that front!

[chezp]

Originally Posted by lfredsbo

Just signing in and caught up! This trip sounds amazing! I got really excited at first when you mentioned Sardinia.....I lived there as a child for a couple years (father was in the Navy), and want to revisit there so bad!

We only had a day there on our 2007 Med cruise, but wow, it was absolutely stunning.

[chezp]

Pre-trip report – part eight: we need a bit more time in Venice!

Monday 31 March

I emailed Sara, our wonderful, amazing travel agent, about the issue with the power strips, and she was able to put my mind at rest over the issue. She told me that basically they’re only going to confiscate a power strip if it’s out in your room, not if it’s in your case, which is good news. That was a huge worry for me and now I don’t have to worry about it any longer.

I also checked out whether tickets and timetables for various things for our road trip were out. The only thing that was out was the timetable for the ferry across Lake Garda, so at least I now know the times for that.

Wednesday 2 April

Mari emailed tonight, and it’s just as well she did, as she wanted to confirm our flight time out of Nice, which of course has now changed to Turin, because of the difference in the car rental cost. She was looking to fly from Nice to Paris, but quickly changed to Turin, and apparently the car rental wasn’t the only thing that was cheaper – so was her flight by $140!

Sunday 6 April

I happened to log into our reservation on the Disney Cruise Line website today, and I nearly had a coronary when I saw that there were two port excursions listed for most of our port days. What the heck? When I went into them though, the answer was very straightforward… because our reservations are linked to Mari and Raleigh’s, their shore excursions show up alongside ours. Phew! At least I don’t have to worry about having accidentally booked two for us at each port…

Monday 7 April

I decided it was about time that I figured out what on earth we’d actually be doing in Venice, as I’d been procrastinating about it for long enough. First though, I really needed to find out what Mari and Raleigh wanted to do, as we’d have the advantage of a full day in Venice (well, maybe not full, we’ll get there late morning) and I didn’t want to do anything that they wanted to do.

I heard back from Mari and I was quite surprised that she went for Murano, which is famed for its glass. Somehow, I figured that she’d want to see St. Mark’s Square, as that’s the big attraction in Venice, but while she said it would be nice to see it, she was more interested in Murano. Ok, that’s fine – and I tell you what, I’m glad I asked the question as I didn’t get the answer I expected…

Tuesday 8 April

After chatting with Mari, I decided to put our boarding time back a bit. Mari and Raleigh only arrive in Venice at around 10:30pm the night before the cruise. Now bear in mind, they’re flying overnight the previous night into London Heathrow, arriving there at lunchtime, then taking connecting flights to Venice late in the afternoon. It’s going to be about a day and a half of either flying or being at airports – not something I’d like to do. They are really going to need a vacation when they get here…

Despite this, Mari’s agreed to meet us at 9:00am on the Saturday morning. We’ll go to their hotel and then head to Murano from there. My cunning plan is to hopefully at least get them on a vaparetto (water boat) past St. Mark’s Square, or if we’ve got the time, to stroll through it…

… which brings me back to our boarding time. I’d originally said between 1:00pm and 1:30pm, but having seen how long it would take to reach Murano by vaparetto and get back to our hotel, I figured maybe we should push that back a bit, so I logged into our online check-in and after a couple of minutes, we were booked in for between 2:00pm – 2:30pm. The aim is to be there around 2:00pm, which leaves us plenty of leeway, as they allow boarding until 3:30pm.

So what are we doing in Venice now? Well, I want to visit Ca’Rezzonica, so this will be our first port of call on the vaparetto, as it’s supposed to be an amazing place to visit. It’s got great reviews on TripAdvisor, and the photos I’ve seen of the interior are really something.

From there, we’ll take a vaparetto and head to St. Mark’s Square, as I want to take the 4:00pm tour Treasures of St. Mark’s Cathedral, as this looks like a fascinating tour, and I like the fact you can skip the lines to get into the basilica and see areas that you wouldn’t normally get to see. I haven’t yet bought tickets, as I’m trying to work out whether to buy vaparetto tickets up front from the same place…

The other place I’d like to visit is Teatro La Fenice as again that’s supposed to have an amazing interior.

After that, there’s one final port of call I’d like to make, which is of course the Disney Store! I’d love it to have some Venetian items in it, but who knows? Some places, like London and Paris do, but other places (Edinburgh sticks out in my mind) don’t, so we’ll find out when we get there.

We’ll then catch the vaparetto back to our hotel. I have a couple of possible places for dinner near our hotel that seem to be highly rated, so hopefully they’ll be good. I suspect, after a very early start (we need to be up at something like 4:00am British time – an hour behind Venice time) we’ll want an early night, especially as we’ll have lots more adventures to come the next day…

Wednesday 9 April

I finally managed to find a price for single vaparetto tickets. They’re €7 ($10) for trips within a 60 minute period. Ok, so I can get a 36 hour pass, including a one way transfer from the airport, which is normally €6, for €29 ($40) each. I think I’ll get that, as if we take more than four vaparetto trips while we’re in Venice, and I’m pretty sure we will, we’ll be ahead.

Tuesday 13 May

Wow, it has been a long time since I last updated this! In truth, there just haven’t been any updates to make… something to do with all the holidays we’ve had in the last few weeks, firstly the Norfolk Broads over Easter and then a week away around southern England. That’s kept all my attention, not to mention swallowing up a little bit of our money as well..

On that subject, I’ve been through and worked out what else we still need to buy for this trip, as there are a few things:

• Pass for travelling around Venice and the tour of the cathedral I want to take
• A visit to the Scrovegni Chapel in Padova (they recommend you book in advance)
• The Ferrari factory and track tour, which sounds like fun!
• Night Segway tour in Florence
• River cruise in Florence

They’re all on the list for me to ensure we get them purchased in the next month or so..

Mari also keeps sending me various links to things she’s found about the places we’re going to be visiting. Me thinks she’s excited!

Wednesday 14 May

Well, it’s 50 days and counting today! Wow, it really will be here before we know it!

I’ve started revising my Italian again. I don’t think I mentioned this before, but I hold a qualification in Italian, what’s called a GCSE (General Certificate of Secondary Education). It’s something you get at the age of 16, then you go on to higher exams at the age of 18 called A-Levels. I decided to learn Italian after I’d started work in the late 1990s, as it was never offered as an option at school. I already had GCSEs in French, German and Spanish from school, and I knew Italian was similar to both French and Spanish, so I figured it would be fairly simple to learn. It was, and despite working full time, I studied it for a year (usually you’d study it for at least two years) and got an A grade in it.

Anyway, the problem with all my languages is that I just don’t use them enough, so whenever we go abroad, I need to go back and revise them. I started doing this a few weeks ago, but it dropped off, and now with so little time to go, I need to get on with this, as I’ll be the only one from our group that can speak Italian. I know that English is widely spoken in most places, but I always think it’s a good idea to be able to speak the language if you can, as you can’t always rely on everyone being able to speak English to you…

Mari got in touch with me to ask about the luggage and whether we’d be able to fit four cases into our car. Well, I gave her the only answer I could, that I hope so, as I’ve ordered the biggest car I can, but there’s no guarantee. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

I’ve also agreed that when I go ahead and book the remaining bits and pieces we still need to pay for, I’ll do it for the four of us, as that’s much easier, and she’ll send me the money through, which works fine for me.

Next: that doesn’t fit me anymore…

[Thomhazel]

If it helps we always worry about hire cars and suitcases, we generally travel with 6 suitcases for the 5 of us and have always managed.

Fingers crossed for the Venetian Disney store some local items would be fabulous.

[lauriep]

More odds and ends figured out! It's great that you can purchase so many tickets for things in advance these days. Not an option when I was touring, although there also were not the huge crowds to deal with. I'm glad you figured out what the double listings of excursions was about! I guess that makes sense, but I'd have had a shock as well.

[xwewhisper]

Sounds like you have some great plans sorted out and only a few more things to purchase!