25th Anniversery Extravaganza Cruise! Live from the Royal- Southern Med. 6/25/16

Hi Friends!

It is almost time for our long anticipated 25th Wedding Anniversery- and what better way to celebrate than with all of you! So consider yourself cordially invited to sail along on our Southern Med cruise!

First the requisit background information. Hi, I am Tracie-Lynn. I am 50 something and I work in education. I am married to Bradley- which is not really his name- but for some reason he likes to remain anonymous- so to protect the innocent (ha! not really)- I shall call him Bradley. On June 29th, we will celebrate our 25th wedding anniversery. We were together for 6 years before that, so it has been pretty much forever. After all this time, he is really growing on me.

If you have read other live froms of our travel adventures, you will know that my husband is a really fit guy. He is also sporting high tech, chunk of hardware in the form of a new hip. He just wore the old one out. He has recovered and is better than ever! So we are going test drive that baby by trekking around Italy, Spain, and France. On vacation we walk between 8 and 20 miles in a day- so we should get a good idea of how functional that new hip really is!

So here is the travel plan... We fly out of Charlotte tomorrow evening and into Barcelona on Saturday morning. We will immediately board the ship. I know this is risky, but we are both still working and vacation time is just limited. We have insurance and the wherewithal to get to the next port should tragedy strike.

We are packed. I am super-packed. I am epically super-de-duper packed. My friends claim that my suitcase could star in a YouTube video. I finally took the plunge and purchased packing cubes and envelopes- and my life has changed forever. Seriously. I have 8 pairs of pants, 22 shirts and sweaters, 6 pairs of shoes, toiletries, workout clothes, swimsuits, dainty things all in a medium suitcase. Of course it weighs a gagillion pounds (42), but boy is it neat! My husbands suitcase, on the other hand, looks like someone threw up in it. No worries. As long as they make it to Europe, it is all good.

I am really looking forward to this trip. We are going to places we have not yet explored. The itinerary is:

-Barcelona

-Cartegena

-Gibraltar

-Marseilles

-Genoa

-Florence

-Rome

Oh! and it is a 7 day cruise. I will have my running shoes on for sure.

This will be my third time on the Royal and will be Richard's, oops! I mean Bradley's first. We had an MA gty- and to a very reasonable upsell to an OS- which had been our hope all along. I am not sure how much we will get to use the balcony, but I will give the soot report. Last time I was in an OS on the Royal, we did not have any soot to speak of.

We also do not have any ship's excursions planned, or private excursions for that matter. We plan to DIY every port- using a little Rick Steves and a little Tom Sheridan/ Tom's Port Guides. For once, we are not completely over-planned. We just want to hang out and see stuff. And eat stuff. And do stuff.

So, I think that I will cut here and mosey off to bed- so I can lay awake and roll around- because, goodness knows- I never sleep the night before a cruise.

I will write a bit more tomorrow from the airport.

Anyone have a warm glass of milk?

Tracie-Lynn:):)

Looking forward to your "live". Thanks for letting us tag along. Enjoy the cruise!

Also looking forward to your trip. Thanks for having us come too!

Have a great time.

Thanks Tracie for taking us along on your anniversary adventure to the Mediterranean! :)

With such a port intensive itinerary you won't have much time to relax & to fully enjoy your OS cabin. ;)

The only ports we've been to on your itinerary are Barcelona, Florence & Rome and looking forward to reading about your experiences. We thought we walked a lot in port (the lower end of your mileage) but maybe that's one reason we haven't required hip or knee replacement surgeries. :p

Congratulations on your 25th anniversary cruise & Buon Viaggio!!! :D

I'm looking forward to your DIY med adventure! Gosh are there any sea days? :eek:

I hope you have a fantastic flight and everything goes smoothly! I'm doing the second half of that cruise next month!

Safe travels and looking forward to the review.

Congratulations on your 25th anniversary! My husband and I are also celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. (We celebrated on the Grand Princess in May) Absolutely love reading your live-froms! Looking forward to following your new adventures.

Wonderful! Have a fantastic cruise! I'm in very serious cruise withdrawal, with no relief in sight for now... I can, however, live vicariously through you!

Thank you for taking us with you!

Congrats to you both on your 25th! I look forward to following along on your Med adventures. Here to a smooth flight and arrival in Barcelona:)

Congratulations on 25 years. I'm following along so report "everything". I don't have a cruise planned till June 2017 so I need to cruise vicariously through other CC members. Have a safe flight and a great time.

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Hi Tracy!

Glad to see that you are blogging "live"!

We are on this sailing, too. See you on board!

We are also traveling today. Here's to smooth flights!

Joan and Jeff

Congratulations on your milestone and hoping that you will be doing a Live From on your 50th.

I'm subscribed.

Judy

The first leg of our B2B on the Majestic next April is your itinerary with the exception of Toulon in place of Marseilles. I look forward to seeing your DIY plans for Genoa and Florence. We visited Pisa and Florence on a private tour in 2014 and were considering doing the Florence On Your Own Princess tour to give us a chance to explore more of the city. We have no idea what we are going to do in Genoa.

Looking forward to your "live". Thanks for letting us tag along. Enjoy the cruise!

Also looking forward to your trip. Thanks for having us come too!

Thank you so much! Just putting the final touches on the packing!

Thanks Tracie for taking us along on your anniversary adventure to the Mediterranean! :)

 

With such a port intensive itinerary you won't have much time to relax & to fully enjoy your OS cabin. ;)

 

The only ports we've been to on your itinerary are Barcelona, Florence & Rome and looking forward to reading about your experiences. We thought we walked a lot in port (the lower end of your mileage) but maybe that's one reason we haven't required hip or knee replacement surgeries. :p

 

Congratulations on your 25th anniversary cruise & Buon Viaggio!!! :D

Grazie, Frank! I am hoping that this will be a truly memorable vacation. Looking forward to my first visit to Italy! Bring on the Italian food!!!!

Ciao!

I'm looking forward to your DIY med adventure! Gosh are there any sea days? :eek:

One sea day... I do love a sea day! So I will miss them.

I hope you have a fantastic flight and everything goes smoothly! I'm doing the second half of that cruise next month!

Safe travels and looking forward to the review.

Thank you! Fingers crossed that our travelis unremarkable.

Congratulations on your 25th anniversary! My husband and I are also celebrating our 25th anniversary this year. (We celebrated on the Grand Princess in May) Absolutely love reading your live-froms! Looking forward to following your new adventures.

A fellow '91er! Happy anniversery to you too!

Wonderful! Have a fantastic cruise! I'm in very serious cruise withdrawal, with no relief in sight for now... I can, however, live vicariously through you!

 

Thank you for taking us with you!

Thank you, Nina! Hopefully your cruise will be here before you know it!

Congrats to you both on your 25th! I look forward to following along on your Med adventures. Here to a smooth flight and arrival in Barcelona:)

Congratulations on 25 years. I'm following along so report "everything". I don't have a cruise planned till June 2017 so I need to cruise vicariously through other CC members. Have a safe flight and a great time.

 

 

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Thank you so much. Getting super excited!

Hi Tracy!

 

Glad to see that you are blogging "live"!

 

We are on this sailing, too. See you on board!

 

We are also traveling today. Here's to smooth flights!

 

Joan and Jeff

I really hope we get to see each other on board. I am a short blond, a little round around the middle. I will most likely have glasses on my head or face. I will be wearing some iteration of navy blue. Oh! and I am almost always carrying my iPad--- and an iced coffee. :)

Congratulations on your milestone and hoping that you will be doing a Live From on your 50th.

 

I'm subscribed.

 

Judy

The first leg of our B2B on the Majestic next April is your itinerary with the exception of Toulon in place of Marseilles. I look forward to seeing your DIY plans for Genoa and Florence. We visited Pisa and Florence on a private tour in 2014 and were considering doing the Florence On Your Own Princess tour to give us a chance to explore more of the city. We have no idea what we are going to do in Genoa.

Thank you, both. I will do everything in my power to try to be detailed in my postings. I do have a very detailed spreadsheet- and will be happy to send it to you if you like. My email is tracie <@> carolina <dot> rr <dot> com.

Hi there Tracie! Your trip sounds so exciting! I remember the 1st time we saw you in Fort Lauderdale, typing away on your computer. Ha ha! I can't wait to read about your new adventures. And, congratulations on your anniversary! It will be our 30th this coming December and we are celebrating with a 13-nighter from Fort Lauderdale in a window suite. We are so spoiled to live in the Fort Lauderdale area and be able to go down and jump on the ship. I can't wait to read your report with all the exciting ports. Have fun!