5/23/12 1st time X/cruise, med. engagement, Paris; oh my! Solstice Med. Trip Report

[PathfinderEss]

Very nice review, thanks for taking the time to post it.

[djwcruisejunkie]

Good luck with the mid-terms!

 

And I agree, best thread in ages & you absolutely should post it on Celeb page. Good combination of ship info, ports of call & humour :D

[IwannaGo Now]

You are just too damn cute.....what a fantastic review....loving every word...

Thanks for letting us enjoy your vacation, with you!! I'm happy that Celeb has recognized the best review in a long time, too.

[KrusII]

Loving your review....great job!!

[CruisingGatorGirl]

WOW! Thank you everyone! I will have an update, or 2, tomorrow! Have a great Friday night!

[gatorgirl59]

WOW! Thank you everyone! I will have an update, or 2, tomorrow! Have a great Friday night!

 

You better get it done before 3:30 tomorrow!!! GO GATORS!!!!

[CruisingGatorGirl]

You better get it done before 3:30 tomorrow!!! GO GATORS!!!!

about to post my next part, just in time for the game! Go Gators!!!

 

My sail-in video took 4 hours to upload, errr!(It is 3 minutes long)

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 13: A New Member of the Family, Andrea Bocelli (part 1 of 3)

 

5/30/2012, Wednesday

 

Solstice: I woke up before the rest of my family and headed to the gym. We were still en route to Venice. I have got to say, even thought half the buttons didn’t work, I will take the treadmill on the Solstice, cruising along the serene Mediterranean over any gym any other day! I did learn which pieces of cardio worked better than others (the buttons seem to stick and are really difficult to press). The gym had a handful of people. On my way back I stopped at the little breakfast bar in the adult only area, Solarium, and grabbed a couple snacks. Back in the cabin I did some P90X while Tyler went to the buffet to eat breakfast.

 

Pictured below: where is the horizon?

 

 

 

Upon his return we wanted to go catch some of the Hot Glass Show, now that we are officially groupies it only seemed appropriate. The girls did another fabulous job and they educated us on the glass we will find in Venice and Murano. They too seemed excited to get off the ship; we were secretly hoping we would have a Hot Glass Show girl sighting off the ship! They also spoke very highly of the sail-in to Venice, just like I read on here, and I specifically remember TLCOhio talking a lot about it! Therefore they ended the show in time for us all to head back to our cabins, freshen up, and prepare for the sail in.

 

VIDEO- Hot Glass Show in action:

 

 

 

Pictured below: 2 hot Glass Show girls. The one on the left, Helen Tegeler, was our favorite, you will soon found out why! The girl on the right is Leana Quade. We also had Diane on board who was new (I think this was her first cruise ever!).

 

 

 

 

Sail-in: At 12:30 we all headed to the front of the ship to watch us sail in. NO KIDDING! You all were right! WOW WOW WOW! This was truly something special. I have been to Venice before, but you have NEVER seen Venice like this until you see it from the high decks of the Solstice!

 

 

Pictured below: Almost there!

 

 

 

Celebrity pumps in some famous songs, such as Andre Bocelli, and has ladies dressed up in masquerade costumes. Have I mentioned I love Celebrity yet? Andrea Bocelli is now part of our new tradition: Europe Night (I will get to that at the end of my journal). What a moment; let me try and set the scene:

 

Andrea Bocelli…

gently sailing in…

towering over the city…

waves from small boats passing by…

watching the wake roll through the canals…

gondolas strolling up and down canals...

sunny skies, temps in the mid 70’s…

Breeze from high above…

 

It goes on and on and on…

 

Thanks to Celebrity, Tyler now has to find a way to save enough money for us to go see Andrea Bocelli live, good luck! Thanks X!

 

Pictured below: I see gondolas!

 

 

You really have a spectacular viewing spot from up top! Also look for the leaning towers, the Hot Glass Show girls informed us how all of the towers are leaning in Venice. I think I have some better pictures of this somewhere.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a some-what long video of us sailing in. It is just so special it was hard to shorten the video! In the video you can see another Celebrity ship in the distance for size comparison. You will also see a tug-boat or some kind of boat, pull us along, we figured this was because it is so narrow?

VIDEO- Sail In to Venice:

 

 

 

Post 13 continued below…

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 13 (part 2 of 3) continued from above

 

 

We headed to the buffet for lunch, well apparently everyone else does that too before getting off in Venice! This might have been a good time to go to Bistro on 5 but for some reason we did not think of that. So we ate lunch pool side and enjoyed the view:

 

Venice: I will have another post dedicated to navigating Venice; I will just touch on what we did here.

 

We used the people mover to get to the main part and rode the Vaporetto. (Look for a whole post dedicated to this! And I recorded prices). Even though I read extensively on here about navigating Venice, I was still confused once we got off the ship. I actually enjoyed that feeling of not knowing what to do and being in a foreign country having to rely on your brain and common sense skills to figure it out.

Pictured below: Waiting for the Vaporetto, this is what the stations look like

 

 

 

We got off at Rialto. We did some window shopping/exploring before crossing the Rialto Bridge to make our way to St. Marks. We ended up coming back to this side to shop since things were 25-50% cheaper over here!

Pictured below: One of my favorite pictures from the trip. Just a quaint canal we passed crossing one of the many bridges

 

 

 

There was one item I HAD to get before leaving Italy, and that is the “Ciao Bella” shirt that is in the Coke design. Of course this is not the most fashion-forward shirt. I had to, yes HAD, to get it because I got one in 2004 that shrunk! Remember I am a sentimental junkie. And I wore my 2004 shirt on the plane ride home so I was determined to get a new one and wear it on the plane ride home in 2012. I made sure to get it bigger than I needed to prepare for shrinking. Update from home: Bad news, it still shrunk a lot! What the heck! Guess I have to go back!

 

Pictured below: Crossing the famous Rialto Bridge

 

 

 

Note!! The shops/stands are cheaper on the side we got off than the St. marks side when you cross the famous Rialto Bridge. So do your shopping before crossing the bridge. The same exact items are a lot more expensive the closer you get to St. Marks.

 

 

We enjoyed walking around St. Marks. Looking at all the amazing glass shops. People watching the people feed/interact with the pigeons, this was the closest I was getting to the pigeons:

 

 

 

Pictured below: around San Marco

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Post 13 continued below…

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 13 (part 3 of 3) continued from above

 

 

Beware of the “Rose Guys” they are tricky! They walked up to Tyler and I and literally force the rose in my hand and tried to force Tyler to pay for it. Even though I felt like a jerk I had to forcefully throw the rose back to the guy. You have to be very stern with these guys!

 

Additionally, the nice people-watching tables and chairs all around St. Marks charge a huge fee just to sit and enjoy. And the drinks were outrageous, I can’t remember the price but it would be something like 80 Euros for our family to just sit there and not even order anything.

 

 

 

 

We got some gelato and as Sabrina from Florence told us, not all gelato is made equal! And she was right! Yuck, we actually had bad gelato. Of course I would take bad gelato in Venice over ice-cream any day, ha!

 

Now I know most people will not agree with me on this, sorry in advance, but I am given honest thoughts on this trip. I actually find Venice to be dirty and stinky, perhaps because of the canals and pigeons. However I still find Venice to be romantic, unique and charming and love going back there! I just do not think I could spend a week here. We are all water babies in my family so we enjoy the boats and canals. We decided to head back to the ship and get ready for dinner. We are eating dinner on ship.

 

**This is the first port we had to show our passport to get back. If you had just a copy of your passport you needed a real photo ID in addition, such as your license.

 

 

Solstice: We relaxed around the ship. This is a nice time to enjoy a quiet Solstice. Dad got to relax in an empty hot tub and I sported my new shirt!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After dinner we were party poopers and went to bed. We wanted to get up early for Venice day 2. I did record that tonight’s dinner was my favorite, filet kabobs. I wrote the “filet melted in my mouth.” I also wrote to myself “p.s. I need to law off the sweets, ha!”

 

 

Ciao Bella!

 

Ashley

 

 

 

Next up: how to get around Venice, and Venice day 2.

[djwcruisejunkie]

Another great instalment (or 3!) I remember the cost of those cafes in St Marks - ouch! And great tip about the rose vendors - will avoid them.

 

We went to Venice in June - not stinky at all. And we are back there in just over a week,and have heard that October is the smelliest month cos of rainfall and possible flooding :eek: Hope not, as I'm looking forward to 2 days of wandering those beautiful bridges.

 

Thanks to your posts, we have booked a private tour in Naples. Pompeii n the morning, then lunch at La Tagliata (love the look of that place!) then off to sorrento for the afternoon - I am so excited I can't wait!

 

How were the mid-terms? Are you finished with exams for now?

 

Keep the posts coming :D

[Margarita Jane]

I am totally enjoying your review and all your pictures. What a great trip to share with your family and, of course, all of us!

 

~ Jane

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Another great instalment (or 3!) I remember the cost of those cafes in St Marks - ouch! And great tip about the rose vendors - will avoid them.

 

We went to Venice in June - not stinky at all. And we are back there in just over a week,and have heard that October is the smelliest month cos of rainfall and possible flooding :eek: Hope not, as I'm looking forward to 2 days of wandering those beautiful bridges.

 

Thanks to your posts, we have booked a private tour in Naples. Pompeii n the morning, then lunch at La Tagliata (love the look of that place!) then off to sorrento for the afternoon - I am so excited I can't wait!

 

How were the mid-terms? Are you finished with exams for now?

 

Keep the posts coming :D

 

Thank you :) We did encounter the rose people in other places but they were by far the worst in Venice. Usually I would just give a polite but stern no. However in Venice I had to be rude :mad:

 

You will have to report back on if Venice was smelly or not, I will be curious!

 

You will LOVE your tour! One of the top 3 for our family! Some family members would put it in the number 1 spot :cool:

 

Yep, midterms done! WooHoo! Thanks for asking

 

and I have another post coming up right now!

Edited October 6, 2012 by CruisingGatorGirl

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 14: HOW TO GET TO ST. MARK’S FROM CRUISE VIA VAPORETTO (part 1 of 2)

 

As I alluded to in my trip report, I was very lost getting off the ship and figuring out how to/where the people mover is located and the Vaporetto.

 

Here in 2 parts I will attempt to explain in detail and pictures on how to get from the ship to St. Marks via Vaporetto.

 

1.) Depending on which side your ship docks at, you walk to the end of the pier/dock/platform you are docked at and make a left. There will be a red 2-story, long building to your right. You will first pass the express water taxis right there that take you to St. Marks (San Marco) direct from Celebrity. Next, the non-X direct water shuttle is 18 Euor PER trip and takes you direct to St. Marks. The non X shuttle is between the 2 boats.

 

 

Pictured below: We are standing on the dock, in the center of the two ships in port. This is the spot where you can pick up the non-celebrity express shuttle. What would be in front of us, where we are looking would be the red, 2-story building.

 

 

 

 

We wanted the opportunity to possibly go to Murano, and possible go back out at night so a direct only route was not for us. The Celebrity shuttle was $22 but this is direct so if you want to see Murano or take more of a scenic ride, this is not the best option for you. But if you just care about St. Marks than this would be a good option for you.

 

The Vaporetto (water-bus type system) and People Mover is what we used; they give you the options to go as many times as you wish and allow you to go to other parts, such as Murano. Prices below. It is similar to a hop on/hop off land bus. If you get on an empty boat you can take a seat at the front for a nice scenic ride!

 

Pictured below: sitting in the front of the Vaporetto enjoying the scenic ride!

 

 

 

2.) Keep walking past the express shuttles. You will pass a kiosk selling the express tickets for express boats, we could not see the “people mover” from this viewing point. The nice lady told us we have to keep walking through a parking lot. You walk past a red colored port terminal building (the 2 story building I mentioned above). Once you get past this building (building on R, water on L) that is where the parking lot is. You make a right to walk across the parking lot. You kind of need to loop around that red building.

 

It is going to look a little sketchy but we did see other people from the cruising heading through the parking lot and construction zone. This whole area is under construction, which makes it even more confusing. Eventually we saw a monorail type track and a big banner that says “People Mover”

 

 

 

 

It took a little while, due to construction fences, to figure out how to access the people mover. It really is a short walk from the cruise, we were just confused due to construction. You make a right once you get past the construction to access the People Mover.

 

Pictured below: we are at the base of the people mover, you can see the top of one X ship and the red building that blocks the view of the ships, and you can see the construction lot we had to walk around:

 

 

 

 

continued below…

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 14, part 2: HOW TO GET TO ST. MARK’S FROM CRUISE VIA VAPORETTO (part 2 of 2)

 

3.) The people mover is 1 Euro. There are little machines at the bottom you use to buy your ticket. The People Mover (PM) is very fast, comes in 3-4 minutes, it has a count-down clock letting you know.

 

There are 2 directions: Roma and Tronchetto (might have the spelling wrong). When going to Venice you want the Roma direction, when coming home back to the ship you want Tronchetto.

 

 

 

 

4.) You exit the PM through a garage.

 

Here is a picture of the PM exit:

 

 

 

Make a left when you exit the garage and cross the street. We bought a map from a little kiosk here, I highly recommend you get a map. You should see a bridge at this point.

 

Walk towards the bridge and there to the left you will find the place to get tickets for the Vaporetto and pick up the Vaporetto. Make sure you note stations names so you get off at the right one.

 

This is what the bridge looks like:

 

 

 

ticket booth, left of bridge:

DSC01888 by dazzler511, on Flickr

 

The tickets for a 2 day, 24 hour pass were 20 Euros. The Vaporetto is very fast and easy to use. The stop here, at the bridge where you access the PM is called P. le Roma. (easy to remember since the PM is Roma). We took the Vaporetto from P.le Roma to Rialto Station. We walked to St. Mark’s from this stop. You need to cross on foot the Rialto Bridge to get to St. Mark’s. As I mentioned before, do souvenir shopping on this side (before crossing bridge).

 

 

 

 

 

 

**If you want to go to Murano, just simply catch the Murano boat at the Ferrovia Station. It is a 30 minute ride.

 

** TO get to San Marco just follow the signs or ask people and thyey will kindly point you in the right way. We found it very easy to make our way to St. Mark’s.

 

VIDEO: Riding the Vaporetto in Venice. Very nice, relaxing, and scenic if you get a seat in the front

 

 

 

5.) To get back to the ship. Take the Vaporetto back to P.Le Roma and cross the street to enter the garage and take the PM back.

 

 

I hope this made sense and will help some of you out planning! If you have questions please ask me and I will do my best to answer them.

 

 

Ciao Ciao,

Ashley

Edited October 6, 2012 by CruisingGatorGirl

[jagaul]

Thanks Ashley....This is very helpful...I've copied your text to take along when we leave on Wednesday for our date with the Solstice on a week from tomorrow!!

Loving your entire review! Must say, you have set the bar VERY HIGH for anything I do when we return! LOL!

[ariawoman]

Another great instalment (or 3!) I remember the cost of those cafes in St Marks - ouch! And great tip about the rose vendors - will avoid them.

 

We went to Venice in June - not stinky at all. And we are back there in just over a week,and have heard that October is the smelliest month cos of rainfall and possible flooding :eek: Hope not, as I'm looking forward to 2 days of wandering those beautiful bridges.

 

Thanks to your posts, we have booked a private tour in Naples. Pompeii n the morning, then lunch at La Tagliata (love the look of that place!) then off to sorrento for the afternoon - I am so excited I can't wait!

 

How were the mid-terms? Are you finished with exams for now?

 

Keep the posts coming :D

 

I was there in October 2 different years, there was no smell at all. There IS flooding though - there will be platforms all around St Marks that you can walk on, or you can do like we did, and take off your shoes and socks, and just enjoy the water in your toes. :-)

 

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 15: Time to Say Goodbye (3 parts)

5/31/2012, Thursday, Venice, Italy and at Sea

 

Part 1 of 3

 

I can’t help but think of Andrea Bocelli’s “Time to Say Goodbye” when I think of Venice. This song has become an anthem in our household now. I catch people (cough cough Tyler cough cough) randomly singing it when they think no one is listening, haha. We are now lovers of all things Italian music and S.Pellegrino; these have become staples in our household, oh we are so worldly now, HA! Americans, lol. Just wait until you hear about our cheesy “Europe Night” tradition we started. Stay tuned.

 

Moving forward with this report. When I started this trip report I had no idea it would be this long, I am already at 45 single-spaced Word Doc. pages! We still have Venice, Croatia, sea days, and Paris left! Lots to cover still! And we still have the engagement, oh when, oh when is it going to happen? I know my parents we on their toes wondering! Moving on with Venice…

 

Solstice: The plan for today was to do some more shopping, take a gondola ride, and maybe head to Murano. We had room service breakfast this morning and headed out for Venice around 8:30am. We used the previously mentioned modes of transportation from post 14.

 

 

 

 

Venice: Well, just so you know, nothing is open this early in Venice! All the shops and vendors are still closed. Therefore we enjoyed sleepy, peaceful Venice for a while until the shops opened up. Once they opened we went back to the cheaper places that we scouted out yesterday. We got some “Murano” glass, who knows if it really is… it does have the little blue “M” on it and it comes with some card of authenticity but even if it is not, I still bought it in Venice so that is good enough!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Next we took a gondola ride. It was 80 Euros total for our party of 4. Mom stayed on the ship today. It was nice, quiet, and peaceful. Our driver did not sing, but he told us a lot about the history of being a gondola driver, which was interesting to hear. It is a hard career to get into, usually it is passed down from father to son. We asked to go down the unpopular/non touristy canals.

 

 

 

 

 

 

We went searching for this pizza place for lunch I read about on here and trip advisor. But it was closed, not sure why, it was lunchtime but I was disappointed. We did more shopping, just enjoyed taking Venice in. I did record the shops started opening around 9:30 and almost all were open by 10am.

 

 

VIDEO: Venice in Action:

 

 

 

Solstice: We decided to head back to the ship and not go to Murano. We wanted to enjoy the Solstice as we feel we have not had a lot of time to appreciate the ship. Mom and I played trivia; it was REALLY hard! We played in the Ensemble Lounge. The Ensemble Lounge became a popular place for us. I was previously a figure skater and really enjoy classical music. We would visit the ensemble lounge to hear the amazing strings.

 

Ensemble Lounge:

DSC02296 by dazzler511, on Flickr

 

 

Continued below…

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 15 continued from above (Part 2 of 3)

 

 

We really enjoyed the relaxing parts of the ship, such as the Ensemble Lounge, Lawn Club, and Sky Lounge. I know there are debates on here over the Lawn Club being for old people, we really enjoyed it and saw people of all ages enjoying it. (Maybe it is because I am secretly an old person; my family likes to joke that I am). We prefer listening to classical strings to dancing in the clubs on the ship. However, the décor is pretty neat in the club. We checked it out a few times, it was never very busy; people watching was fun. I was a figure skater as a child so I really enjoy hearing classical music (Especially stings) and picturing routines in my head. We also enjoyed the activity and people watching at the Martini Bar. We are just not club-dancing people… And I do like Britney Spears, a lot. I guess the whole point of this paragraph was to point out that people of all ages enjoy the ship. Ok moving away from that tangent!

 

 

After getting our "behinds" kicked in trivia, we had lunch at the buffet, which was not crowded. At 2:15 we went up to the Lawn Club to watch sail away.

 

 

 

Parting shots of Venice, notice the leaning towers:

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also learned today that the Lawn Club Shop is only open for limited hours on sea days. I have had my eye on this light pink Lawn Club t-shirt all trip. Stay tuned to see if I get it!

 

 

 

 

 

Sail-away, was again spectacular. I think I shed a tear (for the hundredth time). Famous tunes were piped in again as we waved goodbye to Venice… cue “Time to Say Goodbye” now!

 

 

 

 

Pack enough underwear! (and socks) Here’s the thing, I have a fear of running out of underwear anywhere I travel to. I warned everyone before we left to make sure they had enough. I packed 30-something Paris, excessive I know, but hey, I was prepared for getting stranded in Europe! Well somebody didn’t take me seriously. Tyler ended up washing underwear in the shower! It was pretty amusing. He had to use the blow dryer to dry them. Ha, it was a good laugh. The underwear situation will come up again later in the trip.

 

 

Post 15 continued below…

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Post 15 continued from above (Part 3 of 3)

 

Later we went to the Hot Glass Show, surprise, surprise! I told you we became groupies. I actually wrote in my journal we were groupies, how sad. We got ready for dinner and headed to the Sky Lounge for 2-4-1 drinks. This is the only time I bought a drink on the trip. Tyler does not drink and I very rarely have a drink. They also had the strings playing up in the Sky Lounge. Very nice and relaxing as we sailed along the Adriatic Sea.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I also took a video of the seas. I could not believe how calm it was! I was really worried about the seas as I get sea sick easily (even though I am a water baby!) and I also have a slight fear of big waves in the open sea without land in sight. No need to worry on this cruise, check out the video, you have to see it to believe it! I think my fear goes back to the fear of flying- control type situations. But I felt completely calm on this trip! 1.) Captain Yannis was present (taps into my control thing) he always kept us up to date; and 2.) the seas were smooth as a pancake.

 

 

VIDEO: Unbelievably calm seas! You might ask “What seas?”

 

 

 

Every night at dinner we went around the table and shared our favorite (or few) activity of the day. Tyler and I often talked about the Hot Glass Show. We found out today they will have an auction on the last day since they cannot sell their pieces. We will not be able to afford anything but it will still be fun to go. We told the family about the auction on the last sea day (they still had not made it to a show). Today I also declared a “No Dessert for Ashley Day” I really need to lay off the sweets!

 

Today might be no dessert day but I can still take pictures!

 

 

The buffet:

 

 

Our deck, Deck 10!

 

 

 

After dinner we went to see Katy Sitterfield who performs impressions. She was very good but I only knew a few of the singers, such as Cher. We also got to enjoy the A Cappella group, the Neptune’s, they were spectacular.

 

After that there was a masquerade dance party. Apparently we missed the memo that tonight had a masquerade theme. People in the main dining room wore masks they bought in Venice. It was nice to see the beautiful masks. The dance party was awesome; they had a synchronized dance.

 

 

 

 

We also tried our luck at the slot machines with $5 each (remember, he is a police officer and I am a grad student this was all we budgeted haha). No luck, it was fun though. We played nickle slots to make it last as long as we could. Tonight was an eventful night tonight! Oh just one more thing before I finish, we have a drag queen on the ship! We spotted him/her several times in a tight red dress. But it wasn’t a good drag queen, hairy face and lop-sided wig. We enjoyed seeing people over and over again, such as “Rod Stewart” and the drag queen. There was another couple that was obnoxious and almost got into a fight. They were with their parents, around my age, and were complaining about all the old people. Some people heard this and a fight almost broke out! I will refrain from telling you the name we gave them!

 

 

Ok, that is enough for this post! I miss the Solstice!

 

And I miss Captain Yannis saying “Ouutttt”

-Ashley

[lovestx]

Loving your review. Just had to chime in that we also met Katy Setterfield on our trip to the Eastern Med in June and enjoyed her show. Then she happened to sit down with us at the Martini Bar afterwards so we got to chat. Nice person and very talented. She was excited to be flying to France, I think, to see her sister when she disembarked in Istanbul.

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Thanks Ashley....This is very helpful...I've copied your text to take along when we leave on Wednesday for our date with the Solstice on a week from tomorrow!!

Loving your entire review! Must say, you have set the bar VERY HIGH for anything I do when we return! LOL!

 

Good, I am glad I could help! Have a great trip, I look forward to hearing about it :)

 

I was there in October 2 different years, there was no smell at all. There IS flooding though - there will be platforms all around St Marks that you can walk on, or you can do like we did, and take off your shoes and socks, and just enjoy the water in your toes. :-)

 

 

Wow, that must have been a sight to see! I had no idea it floods, kinda neat :rolleyes:

[CruisingGatorGirl]

Loving your review. Just had to chime in that we also met Katy Setterfield on our trip to the Eastern Med in June and enjoyed her show. Then she happened to sit down with us at the Martini Bar afterwards so we got to chat. Nice person and very talented. She was excited to be flying to France, I think, to see her sister when she disembarked in Istanbul.

 

Wow that is awesome! The only performer we met was the magician. Just got caught up on your review, can't wait to read the rest!

[ShellDil]

I am enjoying your review so much! I will be going on a Mediterranean cruise in June with my family and I can only hope it is as fantastic as yours. Like you, my parents are taking my husband and I, as well as our kids - who will be 11 and 13 at the time, so this will truly be an adventure!

 

I love your enthusiasm and can totally relate. I am the planner for our trip as well and I can see myself in so many of your posts!

 

Keep it coming! I can't wait to hear about more of your adventures!

 

You have an amazing spirit and a wonderful family. I always love reading trip reports from families who get to share trips like this together! It warms my heart! :)

[jtagphillycruiser]

Hi there, I just found your review. It is wonderful. I am up to your day at sea just after Naples. I am going on a Med. cruise in May of 2013. We have 3 RIL tours already booked with roll call members. It is so exciting to read about your RIL tours. I am also researching cameras & will look into the one you listed in the review. I, too, can't wait for the engagement. Your writing is awesome & congrats to you & Tyler on the engagement. You are a beautiful couple.

 

Joanne