All Ears® Guest Blog

Lori & Michael’s 25th Anniversary Cruise

My name is Lori and my husband, Michael, and our 16-year-old son, Aaron, live in Beaverton, OR. Travel with us as we sail from Los Angeles, CA to Port Canaveral, FL

We made our reservations for this vacation waaaay back on 1/31/2007. Our original plans called for 4 of us to travel, but our oldest decided he wouldn’t be able to make it. Disney Vacation Club and the Disney Cruise Line allowed us to drop him from the reservation in one easy phone call and they were quick to refund his fare to our credit card. (We used DVC points for two and paid cash for two.) A few months later we decided we wanted to use points for our other son and it was also very easy to convert that payment from cash to points with one simple call to DVC.

This is the first cruise where we could take advantage of online check-in and online reservations for excursions and Palo. A few days before our booking window was to open I realized that they didn’t show us as Castaway Club members (i.e., repeat cruise guests). Castaway Club members are afforded several nice little perks one of which is a 90-day booking window for excursions and Palo reservations. It took a few phone calls to get to the bottom of this oversight, but I finally got it straightened out.

Early on May 19 I was online to book the couple of things we really wanted to do. One excursion was already full! I was very surprised and extremely disappointed. A call to the Cruise Line made me feel a little better. The excursions are not necessarily full and neither are the Palo or spa reservations. Many guests do not have internet access (imagine that!) and will book on embarkation day once they board the ship.

I did secure a dinner reservation at Palo, Aaron is set for the teen cruise in Puerto Vallarta, and we’re lined up to snorkel in both Aruba and on Castaway Cay. In the days and weeks since May 19, I have checked back on excursion availability numerous times and have found that groups or sessions have been added to many. I was able to book myself on the zip line tour in Cabo. I seem to have grabbed the last spot available in that group, but I’m hopeful that Aaron will be able to join me.

Breaking News! Less than a week before we sail: I just checked back again and I was able to reserve a spot for Aaron! Yeah! The best part? Aaron is excited, too! I got a hug and a thank-you! (This tour is just not Michael’s “cup of tea”; he may choose to explore on his own like checking out Sammy Hagar’s Cabo Wabo or trying to find a great cigar.) We also are booked on a city and shopping tour in Cartagena; emeralds….here I come!

So, the moral of this online reservation story is that the booking window is only slightly important, be flexible, and check back often!

Michael and I have no particular plans yet for Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco. The planner in me is really uncomfortable with this, but I’ll try hard to loosen up and just go with how we feel on those days.

I know this trip is not a project per se, but I do have some goals for myself.
Number one: Relax.
This could be a challenge, but a massage on the first sea day should help get both Michael and me on our way.

Number two: Read.
I’m finally getting around to the last Harry Potter book. I’m visualizing myself on the verandah, feet up, and totally engrossed in my page-turner.

Number three: Exercise and don’t overindulge.
Regular visits to one place I’ve never before set foot: the Disney Magic fitness center. All right, so this one may be tough. I’ll make sure to wear that new bikini within the first couple of days as it may not fit too well after that!

Next up will be packing. The goal here will be to bring enough to minimize the amount of laundry we’ll need to do on the ship, but not too much so that we need to purchase additional luggage to get everything home. Don’t laugh. We’ve had to do this more than once from WDW.

Men’s dress clothes can be tricky to pack not to mention taking up a lot of space. We’ve rented tuxes from CruiseLineFormal.com twice before and found their service to be very convenient. The boys simply visit a local tux shop for a complimentary measure. Then, we use those numbers to order online (or via an 800 phone number). On embarkation day, our room steward delivers the order and the guys are set! It’s a good idea to try on everything as soon as you can to confirm proper fit; minor alterations can be accommodated if discovered early. At the end of the trip, you simply put everything back together on the hangers provided and the room steward handles the return. Easy.

Let me share another lesson that we learned the hard way. Before leaving town, contact your credit card provider notifying them that you will be traveling outside of the country. The last time we cruised, our credit card was rejected in one of the ports. Fraud protection kicked in! Of course, this is a good thing most of the time, but not when ship-to-shore phone rates run $2.50 per minute and our bank didn’t want to accept an online “okay” to release the card (although eventually they did). This time we called ahead. The Disney Visa folks took my info regarding travel dates and ports noting all of this in my account. Another Visa we have through our credit union was not as accommodating. They assured us that fraud protection would kick-in and could be released with a phone call, and, no, they couldn’t do anything about it ahead of time. (Maybe it’s time to trade in that card….)

So, here’s our schedule for the 15 nights:

· Sunday, 8/17: Port of Los Angeles

· Monday, 8/18: At Sea

· Tuesday, 8/19: Cabo San Lucas

· Wednesday, 8/20: Puerto Vallarta

· Thursday, 8/21: At Sea

· Friday, 8/22: Acapulco

· Saturday, 8/23: At Sea

· Sunday, 8/24: At Sea

· Monday, 8/25: Panama Canal

· Tuesday, 8/26: Cartagena

· Wednesday, 8/27: At Sea

· Thursday, 8/28: Aruba

· Friday, 8/29: At Sea

· Saturday, 8/30: At Sea

· Sunday, 8/31: Castaway Cay

· Monday, 9/1: Port Canaveral

Follow our journey on the Disney Magic. The call sign is C6PT7.

This link will show you in red dots where the Magic is. You can use the ZOOM in and out feature to get a better idea of where the ship is.

To see all cruise ships sailing click here. Then you can click on any area of the map to get a closer view.

Wow. This almost feels too good to be true. This trip will definitely be one from the bucket list; a trip of a lifetime.

Next installment: embarkation day!

Follow my Panama Canal Cruise Blogs. Beginning entries at the top, for most recent entries scroll down.

Follow our journey on the Disney Magic. The call sign is C6PT7

This link will show you in red dots where the Magic is. You can use the ZOOM in and out feature to get a better idea of where the ship is.

To see all cruise ships sailing click here. Then you can click on any area of the map to get a closer view.

Lori & Michael’s 25th Anniversary Cruise

This is my first blog with AllEars.net (actually my first blog ever). Let me introduce myself.

My name is Lori and my husband, Michael, and our 16-year-old son, Aaron, live in Beaverton, OR. We’re in the ‘burbs of Portland. J Michael and I both grew up in Southern California (San Fernando Valley and Ventura) with Disneyland in our backyard. We have many fond memories of family vacations and even our high school grad nights spent at the original “Happiest Place on Earth”.

Our first family trip to Walt Disney World was in 1993 when our older son, Brandon, was 7 years old (he’s now 22) and Aaron was a few months shy of his second birthday! I remember wanting to stay at the Polynesian, but “settling” for a tower room facing the Magic Kingdom at the Contemporary Resort. How perfect! That was only the first of countless travels to the World; each giving our family new adventures and wonderful memories.

Unfortunately for us we didn’t join Disney Vacation Club until 2000! What were we thinking??? By this time we had not only made several visits to the World, but we were lucky enough to cruise on the maiden voyages of both the Disney Magic and the Wonder. With DVC, we have had even more visits to the World, Vero Beach, Disneyland, and twp one-week cruises on the Magic.

Back in 2006, I was excited to hear about plans in 2008 for the Disney Magic to return to the west coast. We had tried unsuccessfully to get on the first Disney cruise through the Canal. This time I was determined to get a cabin on one of the Panama Canal cruises. So, January 31, 2007, at a very early hour here on the west coast, I was on the phone with DVC and snagged the perfect cabin for our family, mid-ship, Deck 8. I’m certain my shouts of joy were heard all around the neighborhood!

We’ve watched the countdown tick away one day at a time for over a year. Unbelievably, one week from right now we’ll be onboard! We have our passports, we have our airline reservations, we have our transfers from LAX to the port and from Port Canaveral to MCO (don’t want to think about that), we have a couple of excursions booked (more on that later), Michael and Aaron have reserved their tuxedos from CruiseLineFormal.com, we’ve made arrangements for our puppies and our house (thanks, Brandon!), and now we just have to pack. Five more days of work and then we can be on our way!

Yes, we are celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary. The date was actually back in May which would have been perfect for the Westbound cruise. However, Aaron would have disowned us if we didn’t take him along! Originally, Brandon planned to join us, but life has taken him in other directions. He chose to stay home to hold down the fort and care for the doggies.

P.S. As you can see, we are well-prepared for “Pirates in the Caribbean” and always ready for fun!

August 25 – 27, 2007
Trans-Atlantic Crossing

In this report I’m going to attempt to cover the six days at sea. We’re at home now back into our normal life, looking back those six days seem like one long relaxation on a deck chair. But there are lots of other highlights to tell you about.

Saturday August 25

Our first full day at sea and at 9:30 this morning we had the pleasure of seeing Don ‘Ducky’ Williams and hearing his remarkable story of perseverance that lead to his employment with WDW. Ducky is a character animator for the parks, he does all of the character illustration for non merchandise items in the parks such as signage, maps, ticket media, even napkins.

During his talk he does large character sketches that they raffle off at the end. I really wanted one of those sketches, but today wasn’t my lucky day. Ducky was on our dining rotation so we saw him every night and many other times during the cruise, he was always gracious and willing to stop and talk to anyone who approached him.

After Ducky’s talk and a little lunch we went to the Castaway Club party. Castaway Club is Disney’s repeat cruiser group and there were a lot of us on this particular cruise. If you’re a Castaway Club member you get a gift in your stateroom when you board the ship, even if it’s just your second cruise with DCL. This trip the gift was a leather embossed travel wallet.

Since it is just our second DCL cruise I don’t know if they usually use just one night club or all of Beat Street for the party, as there’s rumor that there are 1300 of us they used all of Beat Street. They have a trivia contest, a raffle for Castaway Club logo items and provide cookies, Mickey rice crispy treats, soda, water and coffee. As I’ve already said this isn’t my lucky day and I didn’t win a clock which was today’s giveaway. But really how unlucky can you feel when you’re on the Disney Magic. Maybe I’m totally lucky.

Tonight’s menu is Prince & Princess and the show tonight is Twice Charmed. A new twist on the Cinderella story Twice Charmed tells the story of how Lady Tremaine and her daughters along with an evil godfather try to sabotage Cinderella’s chance at happiness with the Prince. It’s a fun and entertaining stage musical that I really enjoyed.

Sunday August 26

The Ocean is like a lake, it’s so completely different from what I know the eastbound passengers experienced. With one exception of 12 to 15 foot seas in the middle of one night we had beautiful calm oceans, and nice warm weather with a moderately strong breeze.

Something really cool about sitting on a DCL deck lounger…..happy hour till noon! Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s for $2.99. I only had about 3 the whole trip but I like the idea. Paul has a favorite drink waiter Flavio who seems to find us wherever we are, you always seem to establish a rapport with at least one crewmember, Flavio is ours this cruise.

Today’s agenda included nothing more than me going to the spa for a facial and pedicure and Paul going to the Art of Entertainment. The Art of Entertainment is a series of free cooking demonstrations by Disney chefs, at the end you get to taste the featured dish usually with a wine pairing, We got a couple of good recipes over the week.

Monday August 27

Michael Jordan Sommelier for the Napa Rose Restaurant in the Grand Californian is doing a series of wine tasting that are so in depth they amount to wine classes and at $15 a session are a great value for the amount of information you get.

We’ve also discovered David Cunningham, a crewmember who is doing acoustic guitar shows at the Quite Cove pool stage. He does originals and has a Dave Matthews sound. We like him and caught a couple of his shows.

“When Mickey Dreams” is on tap for tonight Mickey’s dreams come to life guided by cirque-like ‘dream seekers’ This show features amazing acrobats who are even more amazing considering they are performing on a moving ship. They is one nightmare sequence featuring Malificent. I think “When Mickey Dreams” was our favorite stage show.

On a day at sea during the first week of the cruise the show was the Golden Mickeys, an Oscar like show with Disney characters performing their movie hits. We however missed it is because we were at Palo’s that night. We saw it on our last cruise and it’s one of my favorites, I think it’s everyone’s favorite since we all know the songs from the movies.

After Palo’s Paul, Vickie & I did catch Michael Harrison he’s a very funny ventriloquist whom we’ve seen before this was his late night adult show in Rockin Bar D and he was hilarious. That was on Monday and still early in our trip, we were still able to stay up pretty late and happened by the new Ariel View Television, DCL’s new LCD movie screen over the Goofy pool and they were showing Curse of the Black Pearl, so we plopped down on lounge chairs to watch the end before we turned in.

Lynn

Lynn writes: We're home ! What a great trip ! We had mostly beautiful weather, very unlike the Eastbound trip.

As you know, I had hoped to really blog daily, but our internet connection was really bad and there were numerous problems.

So, without further delay, here is Tenerife!

August 24, 2007

Tenerife is our last port until Castaway Cay, 7 days from now. Tenerife is the largest of the Canary Islands at 790 square miles. We are docked at Santa Cruz which is the capital. Santa Cruz is not usually a vacation destination and I like that the shops and bars aren’t real “touristy”.

Our shore excursion today is “The Tenerife Wine Experience”. Yea you’ve figured out the pattern to our shore experiences haven’t you.

Our tour guide today is Katherine and our driver is Israel. On the way to our first stop we learned a little bit about the island and the history of it’s vineyards. The center piece and highest point of Tenerife is Canadas del Tiede the third largest volcano on Earth.

The North side of the island is very lush and fertile the south side is desert like. Obviously all of the agriculture is on the North side. Christopher Columbus stopped here on his way to discover America and it became an important stop on the trade route to the new world. Because of a lack of disease the grapevines here have been in existence since the 16th century.

We have two stops today the first of which is Casa Del Vino, La Baranda a government facility and wine museum.

Although they referred to this facility as a winery I didn’t see any evidence of actual wine production. We have a great view of the volcano and surrounding village and sea, and took some great pictures.

The building itself is built around a central courtyard and houses several tasting room, and a small banquet facility. After a visit to the museum we had a taste of three wines a white, rose, and a red. These were pretty basic wines and they ran out of the red before I got a glass, that’s okay though because I had a taste of Paul’s glass and it taste a lot like an ashtray. We didn’t buy anything here but I did find a winery cat who was friendly enough to pose for pictures and let me pet her. This is the longest I’ve been away from our two kitties and I’m starting to miss them.

Our next stop was fairly close by, a private facility where we were having tapas and wine without the history lesson. Alvaro Bodega is in a very old building right in the middle of a city block. This is a much smaller facility than the one’s we visited in Barcelona and Jerez.

At Alvaro Bordega we were ushered into a back room with wine barrels lining the walls, and many many wine bottles lining the walls above them. The center of each table had a glass tree and several bottles of wine, so we were able to help ourselves they had the usual white, red and rose and they also had an apple wine infused with herbs and a muscatal.

For tapas we had the local wrinkled potatoes, which we very small potatoes baked with salt on the skin and a spicy red sauce to dip them in. Along with those we had several breads with various meats and cheeses. They later came around and poured us each a glass of sparkling cava. We had plenty of time to shop here and this is where I bought most of my souvenirs and wine to drink on the ship, I also bought my requisite bottle of rum to add to the collection at home that we never drink. I also bought a couple of things for my sister Cindy for taking care of our cats while we’re gone.

On the way back to the ship we passed the local opera house it looks a lot like a ship under full sail.

When we got back to the ship several of us weren’t ready for the tapas tour to stop.
Eleven of us met up back out on the dock half an hour later, we had gotten directions from our tour guide to the local tapas bars, a church tower was our landmark.

We headed off through some construction and eventually found our way to a pedestrian street with several restaurant/bars. We had two people with us who spoke Spanish, and while they were interpreting the menus and asking prices we ran into David, who had been our Disney guide for our excursion. He joined us bringing our group to twelve.

The first place we stopped at was overwhelmed by such a large group of Americans, the waitress took about half of our drink orders and disappeared. Finally one of the Spanish speaking girls went inside to ask, they said our table was too big we needed to split up into groups of two. So we got up and went right across the street where one of our party had already talked to the bartender, she was great, seated us all at the bar made us some terrific sangria and gave us olives to munch on. Yum.

Our next stop was a block off the main eating area and was a tiny little place with only the owner doing all of the serving. There were two tables available and all three barstools were open (the bar was that small) One of our group jumped behind the bar with the owner and started taking drink and food orders. We had loaves of warm bread fresh out of the oven a plate of thinly sliced ham and cheese, and a salad with tomatoes, peaches, olives, onion, and bean sprouts in olive oil.

This was a fabulous meal, and the owner was glad to have us, he even gave us several free posters from the local Spring festival of the cross, Santa Cruz means holy cross. From there we found a shopping area and began to split up. Paul and I walked around, found a post office to mail some postcards, dropped into a couple of local bars, where they didn’t speak English but they understood cervesa. And they’re so cheap here! We had two half pints for 2.50 Euros, about $3.50.

We wanted to get back to the ship in time to see the 6:30 show, tonight it’s Jim Brickman! Jim Brickman is a pianist who I became aware of a couple of years ago when he did an album of Disney music. I love his work and am very excited to get to see him. I knew he had been on the Eastbound crossing and I had my fingers crossed that he would be on this one. Disney flew him in just for this one nights shows then flew him back home again.

We got there early enough to get front row seats and it was a fantastic show, he told us a little bit about himself and his work and had a couple of vocalist from the stage shows come out and do some songs with him. I wish now I had gone back to see the second show.

After all that tapas we’d had through out the day we decided to skip dinner and went to hangout in the Rainforest Room in the Vista Spa instead. Sail away that night was really pretty with all of the lights of Tenerife along the water and up the mountainside. And…..fireworks! They were set off from a lower elevation and you could see them against the city lights.

Here's a Fuel Barge alongside the Disney Magic.

Tonight we set our clocks back another hour and head for home.

Lynn

August 23, 2007

Today is our second day at sea, we have one more port before starting the crossing part of our journey. I read trip reports in preparing for this trip where people encountered unexpected rough seas in the Mediterranean but we had 3 to 5 foot seas, not any different really from the Caribbean.

Last night we set our clock back for the first of 6 extra hours we’ll get on this voyage. We slept in until about 10 then went for breakfast.

We plan to spend most of today just sitting on deck chairs getting some sun, and we’ve found our perfect spot -- Deck 10 above the Quiet Cove pool. There are always chairs available and even though it’s not adults only on Deck 10 it’s still relatively quite. We turned our chairs around to face the railing and it’s nice to have a view of the calm blue ocean, that you can’t see from down on Deck 9. It’s close to restrooms that are just inside the elevator lobby one floor down and it’s much easier to get to the soda station by walking Deck 10 to the back of the ship and taking those stairs rather than dodging the ping pong players on Deck 9. I’ve always wished they had a soda station in Quiet Cove.

One more thing Disney really does right is that they don’t charge for soda, most other cruise lines you can buy a soda package, but here you just go to the station and help yourself. If you order one from a bar though it’s canned soda and they do charge for that.

Just aft of this spot beside the forward stack is a staircase that goes down right behind the gazebo in the Goofy pool area, it’s great when the characters do appearances there you can walk right down those stairs to take pictures of them without wading through the crowd waiting to have their pictures taken by the Disney photographers.

Back on our first day in Barcelona we were talking to a lady who was waiting for the port bus with us, turns out she’s with the Dream Team, who are awarding dreams to people in the WDW parks everyday as part of the year of a million dreams. They have 4 families on this cruise who won this trip just by being in the right place at the right time. We’ve seen them around the ship quite a bit they have two dream team members with them, the lady we were talking to,(I never got her name) and a videographer. Today they are set up next to us doing interview with all of the winners.

Our weather has been gorgeous and we spent all of today doing mostly nothing, apparently, because I have very few notes. I did note that in the Captain’s noon public address he said we were sailing just 14 miles off the coast of Morocco, but there’s a low haze and we can’t see it.

Tonight we saw “The Art Of the Story” stage show. This is a show they put together just for the Med cruises, they needed extra shows since these cruises were all 10 & 11 day cruises and two that were 14 day trans Atlantic, instead of the usual 7 days they do in the Caribbean. I didn’t read one good review this show, none that were terrible just not anyone who loved it.

They attempt to explain show elements such as lighting and color using movie clips and live scenes from various stage shows. I expected to like it even after reading the reviews as short scenes are usually perfect for my short attention span. But I have to say the reviews were right. It was especially uninspiring for those of us who go to the parks a lot, as the live scenes were just recycled from the parks stage shows. Oh Well it was still better than a night of television at home .

Dinner tonight was in Lumiere’s and Belle and Beast came in for a visit.

That’s the end of my notes but I believe this is the night we discovered they have Port in Sessions. They rest of the bars on the ship have been out of Port The server in Sessions told us they had gotten 3 bottles in Cadiz. She says there are a lot of Port drinkers on this cruise.

Only 3 bottles?

Lynn

August 22, 2007

Our original shore excursion for today was cancelled a couple of days ago because they didn’t have enough people signed up. It was supposed to be Jerez & Arcos De La Frontera.

So, we chose the closest thing on the list of remaining excursions A Taste of Cadiz, Jerez. The only time available though was 12:45. We usually like to do our excursions in the morning then have the rest of the day in the port to look around and do some shopping, especially in a port we’ve never been to, we like to get a feel for where everything is situated during the excursion before heading our on our own.

Having extra time this morning gave us a chance to go to Parrot Cay for breakfast, this is still a buffet with an omelet station like Topsiders and has basically the same food but you have a server to bring your drinks and clear the table.

The port is in Old Town Cadiz so it’s an easy walk to the shopping area. I really wish I had taken more pictures here. We walked down a tiny alley way to get to one of the main streets that was very quaint with it’s different balconies. I did take some pictures of a cat asleep on the seat of a scooter parked along side the street. I’m a cat person and Paul says I have pictures of cats from every vacation.

We walked around a bit but didn’t really do any shopping, thinking we’d come back into town after our excursion. We were back onboard well before our 12:45 meet time.

Our tour guide Carmen taught us all the proper way to say Cadiz (Caadith) and we headed out on our bus for a tour of Cadiz then on to Jerez (Hadeth) to visit a bodega, that’s a winery for us Americans.

On the way we passed the Cadiz Cathedral, drove along the beach, saw the castle where the Havana clips of Die Another Day staring Hallie Berry and Pierce Brosnan were shot and drove along the beach. The beach here has little areas of restaurant and bars built right out on the beach, and interestingly a kindergarten, also right on the beach. Her description of the kindergarten sounds like what we would call a daycare, as you can just drop off you children there. On the way out of town we passed their soccer stadium, every European city has one.

On the drive to Jerez we passed salt ponds, where you could see mounds of salt along the sides and flamingos walking in the water. The flamingos looked white, unless they were flying, they are pink under their wings. We were also driving past rolling hills that were all empty and beige, they were the sunflower fields, had we been here in June this would have been a beautiful sight. There would occasionally be a large patch of green with a building in the center, these are the vineyards. Most grapes here grow on the ground unlike home where most of them grow on trellises. We also saw a few cotton fields along the way, interesting for a southern girl who grew up seeing cotton fields to find them in Spain.

Coming into Jerez we drove along a Moorish wall that has been here since the 12 century. Here again the streets were very small and some cars were double parked, definitely not meant for tour buses. We passed by a couple of bodegas that I recognized, Harvey’s, makers of Harvey’s Bristol Cream, and Sandeman makers of Port before we reached our destination Gonzales Byass makers of Tio Pepe Sherry and Lepanto brandy.

Gonzales Byass is located on what seems to be the edge of old town Jerez our bus really had to do some maneuvering to get us to a safe location to disembark. Here again we heard the history of the bodega and how sherry is produced. We boarded a train that took us to another building on the grounds where we saw the brandy distillery.

Their facility takes up several city blocks and is house in very old brick buildings. At the brandy distillery there is a room that I fell in love with, the walls are all old stone walls and it appears that is was once a courtyard, now however the ceiling is made of grapevines. They are growing up the walls and form a very lush shady canopy. There were iron lanterns hanging overhead and what appeared to be an old well was the center piece of the room. I could imagine many parties in this room and tried to convince Paul to build me a room just like it.

Further in our journey we passed through rooms where barrels of wine are stored and heard about the sherry making process, many of their barrels have signatures of famous people and many are very old. They also have barrels of wine reserved for Spain’s royal family and many of those have signatures on them as well.

Tio Pepe was the original winemakers ‘Uncle Joe’ and he had a small private cellar, it’s still intact and holds about 30 barrels of wine. Next we were headed to the tasting room, to get there we walked down what used to be streets between the buildings before Gonzales Byass owned all of the buildings, now these are planted with grapevines and they also form a shady canopy over the street. This is a beautiful winery.

The tasting room was set up in a very large open building with what appeared to be large tents inside, the small tables were set up for 4 people each. On each table we had a half bottle of Solera 1847 oloroso dulce sherry and Tio Pepe Palomino Fino Muy Seco.

The Palomino Fino was very dry and went well with the green olives and crisps that were also on the tables. Let me pause here to say that local Spanish olives are much fresher and a lot less salty than what we get in America, I wish I had bought jars to bring back home. The sherry was what I assume is typical semi sweet sherry, we’re not sherry drinkers. They also came around and poured each of us a glass of Croft Original Pale Cream Sherry, which was light and sweet.

They have a nice large gift shop here that I would have liked to spend more time in. Those of us who wanted to could taste the brandy here, but after all that sweet wine it just taste like alcohol to us. They also make and sell sherry vinegar, Mike & Vickie bought some and now I’m wishing I had too. We got a bottle of the 1847 sherry to drink on the ship since all of the bars onboard are out of port and I picked up a tapas cookbook. If we had more time I’m sure I could have a found lot more to buy here.

We got back to the ship around 4:30 but everything in town was closed for siesta until 6:00. Apparently I needed one too after all that sherry, and since there wasn’t a 6:30 show tonight I took a nap until time to get ready for dinner.

On the nights that there is a stage show they do them both during dinner times. If you have the late dinner seating like we do you go to the first show and vice versa if you have the early dinner seating. A little different than other ships we’ve been on and a great set up as it allows people with late seating to see both the stage shows and late night acts.

Some nights there are deck parties and those are usually around 10:00 so that everyone can come. Tonight we were sailing at 10:00 and they had Latin Music Under the Stars. Here the Captain backed out of the port then turned after we were out in the channel. You could see people standing along the sea walls to watch the Magic leaving port, and hear her sound her very distinctive horn.

Where other ships just have one big bass horn the DCL ships have 7 that play the first 7 notes of “When You Wish Upon A Star, it’s incredibly loud and always takes my breath away. When we reached the channel I could see motoring out ahead of us a 3 mast sailing ship that had been anchored across from us in the harbor. We’re under way and it’s time for bed.

Lynn

Gibraltar Mountain

Along our Walking Tour (See Gibraltar Blog Entry)

Me at Gibraltar

Ape and Baby

Me and the Baby Ape

Disney Magic

Paul in the Tunnel (See Gibraltar Blog Entry)

Side Street in Gibraltar

Sinking Ship (See Gibraltar Blog Entry)

August 21, 2007

Obviously this blog hasn’t been as live as I had hoped, I’m having a harder time than I had though finding time to write and wireless internet access is not always available. The wireless internet access throughout the ship is new to DCL and it’s still pretty hit or miss. It is a great service though and nice to be able to use your laptop in your stateroom instead of having to use the internet café.

You may also notice that I’m skipping Monday our first day at sea. I had that report all typed up and lost it when I failed to save it. We spent most of that day by the Quite Cove pool. Quite Cove is the adult only pool and is our usual hangout; I’ll have more on it on a later sea day.

I also went to the spa and had a seaweed mud wrap and massage. I think it was the deepest deep tissue massage I’ve ever had. If you find yourself in need of a massage on the Disney Magic ask for Ben. This was also our night to have dinner with Vickie & Mike at Palo’s. I’ll talk a little bit more about Palo’s later on, Paul & I will be having dinner there again on the 30th.

This night we went early to have a drink at the bar before dinner. Our friends Shelly, Scott, and Dylan are on a RCCL Mediterranean cruise this week and we had set up this time to have a virtual drink with them. So “Cheers” guys we miss you this trip.

One other Palo’s note PJ the head waiter at Palo’s (I think that’s his position) will be moving to one of the new DCL ships. He told us the Palo’s on the new ships will hold 200 people and there will also be a smaller Victoria & Albert’s style restaurant.

So that’s yesterday in a nutshell, let’s get on to today.

We woke up very early this morning to the sound of the ships foghorn. We are pulling into Gibraltar and it’s so foggy you can’t see the rock. Gibraltar is located on a narrow peninsular of Spain’s Southern coast and has been a British colony since 1713. Most people know the rock of Gibraltar as a symbol of strength and solidity, it’s actually fairly hollow with 140 and miles of tunnels in most of it’s two mile area.

We started our tour today with a short bus ride to the cable car that will take us to the top of the rock. At the top there is a station with a small gift shop and snack bar, up here there are great views of Catalan Bay and the rest of the island. From here we start our walk down the mountain to St Michael’s Cave, stopping along the way at different overlooks and occasionally to let a taxi pass us on the very small road. Whenever one came into view we all had to line up single file along the mountain side of the road to give it enough room to pass.

We also passed remains of fortifications, and many iron rings in the rock that cannons had been attached to. St Michael’s cave has miles of cave and tunnel and we only saw a small part of it but the part we saw was spectacular, most amazing is a concert hall inside. I wish I could have gotten a good picture of the concert hall but one little camera flash just won’t illuminate it, I had to buy a post card to get a good photo.

After St Michael’s cave we boarded our bus and started down the mountain, on tiny roads not meant for tour buses. In the states these roads would have been single lane; here they were two way with cars parked along the side.

We stopped at one overlook where a family of Barbary apes lives. Here they believe that if the Barbary apes ever leave Gibraltar it will cease to be British. We had been told to beware of pickpocket apes and not to wear flashy jewelry and to put our sunglasses in our pockets. However we were there pretty early and they weren’t very active, which was great for photography and I took lots of pictures, especially of the babies. My favorite was a little family of three, the mother was lying on her side asleep with the tiny baby cradled in her arms while the father sat next to her with a protective hand resting on her side.

Our next stop was the Great Siege Tunnels. I remember that the tunnels were dug through solid rock by hand but I can’t find any dates in any of my notes or information. The ceilings were very low and Paul who is 6’2’’ had to watch his head. There are some cannons remaining and a few ‘scenes’ set up. This was the last stop on our tour and we headed back down the mountain.

Some of our drive took us through residential areas and again through very narrow streets. On the way down we passed the remains of a Moorish castle that is now the local prison. We also passed the governors house which is called the convent because it was once a convent. It was a nice red brick building right on the street with an armed guard out front. The bus dropped those of us wanting to shop off at Main Street with directions on how to get ourselves back to the port.

I had asked our tour guide about the Clipper, the pub that Passporter recommended, she said "That’s in Irish town". I assumed that meant it was not close to Main St, turns out it’s just one block away, but we figured that out after we had already had fish & chips in another restaurant in the Main St square. We went in and had a drink anyway, and found Vickie & Mike there having lunch.

We walked around the Main St area but I was pretty disappointed in the shopping in Gibraltar I had hoped to find a pint glass for my nephew Terry with a local pub or ale logo on it, it seems the only one’s were the one’s they were serving ale in. Guess I should have asked if I could buy one of those since I never found one for sale. Most of the things for sale I could buy back home. The only local craft was Gibraltar Crystal, which is still hand-blown on site. The artist had two assistants and they do every piece themselves. It was interesting to watch but too expensive to buy.

Back onboard out departure from Gibraltar was a little more exciting than our departure from Barcelona, the Captain turned the ship around in the harbor and everyone had a full view, then as we sailed out we were followed by several private yachts, guess it was a little more exciting for them as this in only the second time the Magic as been to Gibraltar. Two interesting sites as we left were a cargo ship that had been hit by another ship was half sunken right off the point of the lighthouse and you could see Morocco sticking up through the marine layer. Pretty exciting to know we were that close to Africa.

Lynn

Finally! some internet access.

We're having a wonderful time, saw Jim Brickman last night whom I love!

This morning we were fortunate enough to see Ducky Williams.

The internet service is REALLY bad! I haven't disappeared, just having problems getting online to post.

Here are a few pictures of Barcelona.....

Olympic Stadium

Barcelona Overlook

Barcelona Side Street

Columbus

Port of Barcelona

August 19, 2007

Barcelona & Codorniu Cellars

That wake up call is LOUD at 7:30 in the morning!! Today we’re doing a bus tour of the city and then going to Codorniu Cellars for a tour and tasting. We had rain last night and today is very overcast. After breakfast we’re meeting Vickie & Mike in Diversions where our tour group in assembling. It was about half full when we got there so we grabbed a table and Vickie & Mike came in right after us. Our guides got us organized, gave us stickers that identify us as a Disney tour group and we headed out to our bus.

First up was a stop at an overlook, you could see a lot of Barcelona but not too well since it was so cloudy, I didn’t get any good pictures but I enjoyed walking around looking out over the city.

Our second stop on the tour was Temple de la Familia, a huge ornate temple started in 1882 that is still in progress. The statuary on the outside depicts the life of Christ on one side and his death on the other. We had about 30 minutes to look around outside and in a few shops, while we were here it started to rain pretty good. Our guide Anthony did part of his talk from inside the bus so we wouldn’t get too wet.

On the rest of our drive through the city one thing that struck me is that all of the city streets are lined with trees, and the building all have rounded corners to help with airflow. We drove past Olympic park and out of the city to the vineyards in the countryside. During our 45 minute drive, we passed Montserrat but you couldn’t see if for the cloud cover.
Deb's May 2007 Montsterrat Photo Blog One and Photo Blog Two.

We arrive at Codorniu Cellars to more rain but it was a short walk inside and from building to building. We hardly got wet. They have a museum where our guide told us their history; it’s housed in a beautiful old red brick building, with arched brick ceilings that I loved. We saw the processing area, and then went into the cellars. They have miles of cellars and take you through on a little train. At the end of out train ride we went to the tasting room.

Codorniu Cellars makes sparkling wine called cava, which would be called champagne if it were from France. We had their Non plus Extra Brut, it was really good, light, not sweet since it’s Brut but not too dry. We considered sneaking back up to the bar with the next tour group to get a second glass but opted to go to the gift shop instead. We all bought something to drink during the cruise and something to bring home. As we were leaving they gave us a three pack of single serving bottles as a gift, all right! souvenirs for people back home!

On the way back to the ship the bus offered to, drop us off at Las Ramblas Paul & I took them up on it, I wanted to pick up a pair of earrings I should have bought when I saw them the first time. On our way back to the port bus we stopped at the Take Away to have a Damm Beer, while we were in there it started to rain again, by the time we got to the bus stop it was pouring ! And the roof of the bus stop was leaking, I sure am glad Vickie insisted I take her umbrella!

The Gothic Quarter where Las Ramblas is located is very pedestrian friendly and has beautiful and ornate architecture, I took lots of pictures.

When we got back to the ship we were both freezing from being out in the rain, we heard the temperature was 72, but didn’t confirm that. We decided this was the perfect time to go to the Rainforest Room at the Vista Spa, some time in the saunas and a quick snooze in a tile lounger and we were happy people. The Rainforest room is the best money you can spend on the Disney Magic.

The sail away party was moved to the Atrium because of the weather but it had stopped raining so we chose to go up to Deck 10 to watch the Magic sail out of Barcelona for the last time in 2007. I love sail away no matter what port you’re in, it’s too bad the rain ran the party inside. The Disney Magic slipped quietly out of Barcelona, very different from the fanfare of her arrival. I’m hoping for a great sail away party when we leave Tenerife to head back home.

After sail away we went to the Walt Disney Theater to see Illusionist Phil Keller, then to dinner at Parrot Cay the most casual of the three regular dinning rooms. Since we had eaten in Barcelona the night before instead of in the dinning room we were meeting our table companions for the first time. They are Kasey & Kevin and they’re from Florida. Sometime around dessert Minnie Mouse and two dancers came in and did a song that Kasey recognized, as he had performed it at Tokyo Disneyland when he worked there as a singer.

After dinner we went to Diversions to watch the NASCAR race on ESPN but it had been rained out so we turned in early. Tomorrow is a sea day and we get to sleep in!

Lynn

August 18, 2007

We ascend into Barcelona through heavy cloud cover, to rain. Pretty novel for us since we haven't had any in Atlanta for a while. Immigration was very quick thanks to Delta giving us the paperwork on the plane and the officer being on the phone. I don't think he even looked up when he stamped our passports.

While we were waiting for our luggage there was a Disney Cruise Line rep walking through the crowd who gave us stickers to wear on our shirts to identify us as DCL passengers and told us where to take our luggage. The whole luggage process went smoothly if not too quickly and our large group gathered to head outside.

The rain had stopped so we only had to dodge puddles on our way to the bus. Onboard the bus we learned our 8 mile ride to port would take about 30 minutes. On the way we passed the “Damm Brewery”. Wish I had gotten a picture of that. Paul & I like to try the local beer when we travel, no matter how bad it may be.

After we got checked in, which took no time at all, we passed by an area where local dancers were performing and Mickey was watching, got a few pictures of Mickey, had our Welcome aboard picture taken and headed up the gangway. We stopped by our room where we found a bottle of champagne from our travel agent Vickie (MouseFanTravel,.com) and a leather travel wallet which was our Castaway Club gift.

We hadn't had much breakfast so we headed up to Topsiders for some lunch. After that Paul, who was suffering more from the redeye flight than jet lag, went back to the room to crash and I went to the Vista Spa to book the rainforest room for the two weeks. The Rainforest Room is a serene room in the Vista spa with heated tile loungers, 3 steam room/ sauna, and a couple of scented showers. It's one of our favorite places onboard ship.

From there I went to Palo's, DCL's private adults only dinning room to get on the waiting list for a second dinner. We're having dinner with Vickie & Mike there on Monday night but we were hoping to get a second dinner for just the two of us. I told them it was our 15th anniversary and she found us a table for two no waiting at 8:30 on the 29th. Unfortunately that is Pirates In the Caribbean night - the only night I didn't want, because we have costumes to wear. I turned it down and asked that we just be put on the waiting list. She kept looking and found us a table for two in Aug 30 th!

Additionally I checked to see if Vickie had been successful in adding us to her Palo's brunch reservation, she had!! I'm happy now. Paul was napping when I got back to the room and I tried to lie down too. I couldn't lie still, so I got up and moved to our sofa with my book, read a little bit then took a short nap. I woke up just before 5:00 and woke Paul up to do the lifeboat drill that I thought was at 5. It was at 5:30 so we had time to unpack.

After the mandatory lifeboat drill which we grabbed a snack and caught the port bus, it runs between the port and Las Ramblas a pedestrian street lined with restaurants, shops, street vendors and street performers. We walked along the harbor then checked out the street vendors. Las Ramblas is in the Gothic Quarter and there are many side streets and squares to explore, wandering down one of these we discovered an Irish Pub, Molly's Fair City, Well I'm Irish so we have to go in right? We thought this was pretty novel, an Irish pub in Barcelona, later we realized they're all over the place. While we were having our pints we asked the bartender where to eat, she gave us directions to L'Arqeutera (hope that's right I'm reading her hand writing) she said walk along the street and listen for locals, well we found it easy enough and were checking out menus when we found Taller de Tapas, which was recommended by PassPorter so of course that's where we ate. Tapas along with a pitcher of Sangria were just what we needed to get our first night of vacation off to a good start.

Lynn

August 17, 2007

The day is finally here ! Tomorrow we'll awake somewhere over Barcelona. Our day started when Paul's cell phone woke us up. It was his boss also know as Paul with some problem he wanted Paul to fix, Hey! Doesn't he know we're on vacation??

After fixing their problem Paul headed off to the Y to workout and I headed to my chiropractors office to get all straightened out before we leave. We met up back at home and headed off to Chili's for some lunch, when we got back the box from Amazon that we had feared wouldn't arrive in time was sitting on our front porch, Paul had ordered a Sci Fi series to read and we were beginning to think we'd have to go to Border's for books. Also in that box.........NASCAR 08 for XBox !!!!

So much for cleaning up the house before we leave, at least we have something interesting to do for the next 3 hours. Turns out there was so much time to kill, the house got clean and we had time to crash a few cars. Paul had arranged for a town car to pick us up at 4:30 for our 8:00 flight, we are using a different service this time after the last service left us stranded at the airport on our return flight. The driver turned up a few minutes early in an SUV, we always had a regular car before, we like them so far. Great driver, no traffic and our trip to the airport was quick and uneventful. Because we were early there was no line either at baggage or check in. In no time at all we were in Friday's having appetizers and drinks to start our vacation. While we were sitting there trying to chill out Paul said "you know, I'm a little sad we're not going to see Dylan......and Scott & Shelly." They are our friends we met on the last DCL cruise and have remained friend 2 years later.

We arrived at the gate before the plane, which should already be here, turns out it was at another gate. While we were sitting in the terminal I was looking in my bag for my book and realized I had forgotten my Passporter ! How could I have forgotten that! With all of the highlighting and bookmarks I've stuck in it over the last few months. I'm going to be totally lost on the ship, how am I going to know what I want to do after the planned shore excursions in the ports and HOW can I possibly write trip reports with out that important encyclopedia?

Our flight starts to board at 8:25 and we're in flight by 9:15 just 1 hr 15 mins after our original takeoff time. Since May I've read tons of travel reports and the one thing I was worried about was changing planes either in London or Paris, it just sounded like a hassle to me and I was worried about delays or our luggage not arriving when we did.

We booked our flights with our package through Disney and 30 days ago we got the good news from Vickie, we had a direct flight!! That was the best news so far! Seriously it eliminated my biggest worry. It pays to live in a hub city that is also the home of Delta. So they start to bring around dinner not long after take off, we tell them we ordered two diabetic dinners, the flight attendant tells us, "we didn't get any diabetic dinners:". Period. That's it, not what can you eat, let's see what we can do. Nothing. Well this is okay for dinner but I'm going to need more than a bagel for breakfast. She tells us she'll have her captain come by and talk to us. We never saw her.

With dinner over we watched a couple of movies, turns out we didn't need our laptop for movies, in flight movies on international flights are free. This is our first international flight so we were unaware. I watched Shrek3 and Paul watched Spiderman 3. After the movie I kept my headphones on and listened to music "Spa selections" worked nicely to try and sleep by, along with handy dandy sleep mask they give you in your little package, which I thought had aroma therapy in it. The next day it was scentless, do they pipe that stuff in? I know I didn't imagine it. If you had asked me I would have said I didn't sleep any, but I was pretty surprised when they started coming around with breakfast, there was actually light coming in and we were only an hour from landing. For breakfast they managed to get me fruit, cheese, and crackers, along with the granola bar I brought with me I would survive. Pretty soon we were landing in Barcelona!!!!

Lynn

THURSDAY AUGUST 16 TH

Yesterday as I was getting ready for work I got a text message with a picture from our friends Shelly, Scott & Dylan, who we met on our 2005 DCL Cruise. They are on a Med cruise on 'another' cruise line and were having pizza in Venice. How wonderful!

Today when I got to work, I've got an email from Vickie, and one from Deb Wills. Vickie & Mike have arrived safetly in Barcelona, and Deb reports from where ever she is enjoying her Disney Adventure that our blog is ready to go.

So how am I supposed to get through the rest of my work day with out exploding from excitement?! After all I've been waiting for this for 16 months and in about 26 hours the car will be here to pick us up ! Luckily I work for a Dentist and he only sees patient till 1:00 On Thursday. By 1:45 I had everything I had to do finished up and was on my way next door to get my nails done, with well wishes from my boss and co-workers. As my nail tech 'Son' told the lady who was doing my pedicure "She's on vacation!"

So nails done, stop at Petsmart for cat food, Kmart for perscription, and Trader Joe's for 2 1/2 buck Chuck for the wine coolers I'll be having later. Yes Folks we pay $2.49 for 2 buck Chuck in Georgia! I had just gotten home when who should arrive but Paul ! Much to the astonishment of his co-workers Cynthia & Gary who are our close friends, he left work early on a Thursday and HE was on VACATION too !!!.

Since we did most of our packing on Sunday we didn't have that much to do, just some last minute odds and ends and a full out search for the only pair of cuff links in existance, which BTW, I (if that "I" could be bigger it would be) found. Right on the shelf in his closet buried under sweatshirts that he swears he had already looked under. That's why Indiana Jones, and Hans Solo always had a girl with them, they might look good but they can't find stuff on their own.

Over the last couple of days we've debated where to have dinner tonight and decided on our favorite pizza joint Mellow Mushroom. Back home to watch a movie, Zoom, which we already had from Netflix, (mildly entertaining, but it tries hard) and I came upstairs under the pretext that I was going to shower and go to bed. How does anyone sleep on the night before vacation?

I always told my Mother, the night before Disney is far worse then the night before Christmas. So I snuck out to the livingroom to get the laptop to write down the blog that keeps playing in my head (somehow it sounds much better there) and I can hear NASCAR 07 coming from the XBox in our home theater in the basement. Paul wont' be to bed for hours!

Who are these people?

This is my first blog with AllEarsNet so I thought I’d introduce myself.

My name is Lynn and my husband Paul & I met when we were both Cast members at EPCOT. We were married in 1992 and left Orlando for Atlanta in 1994. We have no children by choice. Even though I grew up in GA WDW feels like going home, and I still visit a couple of times a year. Paul visits once a year for the Food & Wine festival.

On port days during our early cruises we felt we had to ‘DO’ everything, and I had a need to buy lots of tacky souvenirs. Somewhere around cruise number 3 I started to realize that I could get a lot of the Caribbean ‘stuff’ at Wal-Mart, and my family really didn’t need t-shirts from somewhere they’d never even been.

Around cruise 4 or 5 I started to buy mostly locally made products. I especially try to find local artwork or photography; frameable postcards are my favorite ‘cheap’ souvenir. On our last two cruises we lost the ‘need’ to have to do and see everything available in port, and started to appreciate the days at sea more. During our 2005 DCL cruise I remember telling Paul “This is the ship I want to do a Trans Atlantic cruise on” Well….. Lo and behold just a year later the announcement came out that DCL was taking the Magic to the Med! That meant they had to get it over there and back right ?!?! It was like Tinkerbelle had swooped over our world spewing Pixie Dust !!!!

With a mixture of excitement and apprehension that there’s no way we could afford this I contacted our wonderful TA Vickie from MouseFanTravel.com, who as it turns out will be on the same cruise. On April 4, 2006 we were booked on the Westbound cruise August 18 – September 1, 2007 !!!!!

I chose the Westbound for several reasons, 1) we get the really long flight over and done with at the beginning of the trip 2) we do the active part of our journey at the beginning, then get 6 blissful days at sea 3) Best of all we get to sail back in to our own time zone, which I hope will be an easier acclimation, AND we GAIN an hour every day on the Trans Atlantic part of our voyage! Every day will be an hour longer !! WoooHoo! 4) Also a big bonus we get home on the Saturday of Labor Day weekend, so we have two full days before returning to work. It wasn’t until months later that I realized that our 15th Anniversary is within the same month hence the title of our blog.

I’ll let Vickie & Mike introduce themselves.

The four of us Me, Paul, Vickie, and Mike will be blogging both jointly and separately, that is Mike and I will be blogging , most of Vickie’s on line time will be spent working, and I expect only minor input from Paul.

Did I mention that I talk too much, usually about myself or Disney! LOL!!

Lynn Behr

This may be the one stop on the trip that you’ve never heard of. Sandwiched between Naples and Rome, Olbia is a side trip to the island of Sardinia. It’s the closest you’ll get to a day in the country on this trip without renting your own car and driving off on your own for the day (which is possible).

We decided to take Olbia as a rest day. In retrospect, I wish I had stuck with my original decision and done the kayaking trip, but my day wandering the town was quite enjoyable none-the less.

I woke up to the sight of the competition parked across the pier from us. A cruise ship with a Giant “MOBY” on the side, along with Tweety, Sylvester, Bugs, Daffy, and Taz.

Turns out that Moby is one of the large Italian Ferry companies servicing central to northern Italy. The Fantasy, (along with its 15 or so sister ships including the Moby Magic) cruises between the ports of Sardinia, Corsica, and the mainland of northern and central Itally.

Also out on the pier was a welcoming reception from the town of Olbia. They had a live band playing traditional Sardinian music and a huge tent full of local foods, all staffed by some very friendly locals. For some strange reason I didn’t take a picture of that. Brain fade. Maybe I did need a break that day.

Olbia is basically a small town. No sky-scrapers (one 14 floor apartment block), no giant cathedral, just people living and working. It is full of little shops and restaurants. Olbia feels like a small town on the island of Sardinia should feel.

There are plenty of quaint streets and little squares in the old part of town. I wondered those for most of the day, and ended up finding – shockingly – an old wooden Indian in front of a pizzeria at one point.

Here are some more pictures from my day.

Many of you have requested details on how we traveled on our own to Montserrat! The simple answer is we had Gary the Guide who had done extensive research. He was awesome! Gary has offered his notes for those of you who want to try it yourselves.

Keep in mind, this is one person's suggestion. Your experience may vary. Do the research before you go!

Montserrat Monastery (just outside Barcelona)

Do it on your own - Step by Step – by Gary the Guide

The following is my step by step guide to traveling to Montserrat Monastery on your own.

I will assume that you are staying at a hotel within walking distance of a Barcelona metro stop. If you are not, or are not comfortable with using a metro system you could take a cab to Placa Espanya. The trains run hourly to Montserrat at 36 minutes past the hour, first train is 8:36am.

1. You need to get to Placa Espanya, this is where the FGC suburban line R5 departs.

2. Barcelona metro is very easy, cheap, quick, clean. While we felt safe using it all day and into the early evening hours, use caution and be aware of pickpockets! All lines are numbered and signed in color code. For example, the 7 of us who did Montserrat on our own were all staying about 500 feet from line 4 (linea 4), yellow colored on the metro map, stop named El Maresme Forum.

3. All metro lines are signed for the direction of travel towards the ends of the line from where you are standing,

For example at el Maresme Forum - the line travels towards Trinitat Nova, or La Pau. To get towards the city we traveled in the direction of Trinitat Nova, signed as Direccio
Trinitat nova.

Link to tmb official metro site -- www.tmb.net/en_US/home.jsp

4. After arriving at Placa Espanya, look for the FGC station. This is an underground station. It is linked by a passageway from the red line (linea 1) metro stop. There is also an above ground entrance signed with a blue on white background sign that looks like an intertwined f and c.

5. Go to the information booth and ask for a ticket to monistrol de Montserrat. I would strongly recommend the TOT MONTSERRAT type of ticket. While it is the most expensive, it includes roundtrip train, rack railway, 2 funiculars, lunch in the self serve cafeteria, museum, - which is just about all there is to see in Montserrat. There is a staff person outside the booth who can assist with the automatic ticket machine, although his English was limited on our trip day. I would recommend paying with cash (EUROs) as some of our party had difficulty with
credit/debit cards. It is about 34 Euro per adult, not cheap, but still cheaper than the Disney excursion price.

Link to fgc site
www.fgc.net/accesible/eng/viatjar/oci.php

6. Take the R5 train towards Manresa. Trains are very clearly marked, and are signed with the train number. This is an end of the line station so the platforms are marked well.

7. Get off at Monistrol de Montserrat. It's about a 55 minute train ride; about half is outside the urban areas in countryside. You want the next stop after montserrat-aeri. You will see the cable car and the monastery on the left, facing direction of train travel for several minutes before this stop, it's the 12th stop from Barcelona if the train is making all the stops

8. The rack railway (cremallera de montserrat) meets the train, transfer across the platform, about 20 minute ride up to the monastery.

9. You are there! Reverse the train order to return to Barcelona. The rack trains leave the monastery about 6 minutes after the hour, and are timed to meet the Barcelona trains. I believe last train is 5:30pm so don't stay too late. Check fgc timetable for the last train back to Barcelona. Remember all trains are timetabled in military/24 hour clock style, IE: 0836, for the first train of the day

A brief word about the cable car. I made a mistake while leading our group and thought it was included in our tickets. So imagine my embarrassment when we got off at monistrol de arie, and found we had to pay another 5 euros each to take the cable car, or wait an hour for the next train to go 1 stop further. We elected to pay the euros and take the e ticket cable car. BE ADVISED, this is a European style cable car, which means it's pretty well up in the air for awhile, so anyone with a real height issues might want to skip this. I loved it because it gave me a real appreciation for the labor and commitment of the monks and craftsmen who built that far up the mountain.

Montserrat is a very spiritual place and occupies a special part of the heart of the people of Cataluña. Please respect this and do not be the ugly American tourist. Cover knees and shoulders in the basilica, and no flash photography inside either.

Monsterrat Photos from Deb's Blog Entry, Part 1
Monsterrat Photos from Deb's Blog Entry, Part 2

There are many other pictures and sites available about Montserrat via a google search of Montserrat monastery.

Gary the guide

Note: Although AllEars works very hard to provide you with the most current and accurate information on this site, AllEars does not warrant or represent that anything you see on this Site is up-to-date, error-free or complete. Read our full terms of use.

Today we took a short tour to Pisa. to visit their famous School of Architecture. But first, in case you were afraid this was all business and no fun, let me introduce you to one of our dinner mates.

We pulled into port early, as always, and with a little help from our friends Mark and Reed we proceeded to get hooked up with the smallest tour, and headed out toward Pisa.

If your goal at this port is to get a taste of Tuscany, like in Under the Tuscan Sun, don’t go to Pisa. It is on the industrialized coastal plain. That’s not to say that there isn’t anything worth looking at on the way to and from Pisa. There are lots of quaint old villas and little villages sitting on the tops of the rolling hills. There are also some amazing quarries in the hills where most of the marble used for building and sculpting in Italy was mined. There are now hundreds of marble cutters sprinkled throughout the region, and if you’ve got any Italian marble in your home there is a good chance it came from this area.

Once we arrived at Pisa, we had to park the bus about a one mile walk from the town square. The last quarter of a mile is covered by hundreds of swindle-vendors. Three T-shirts for 10 Euros type, except here it’s one T-shirt for 10 Euros. Or one umbrella (it was raining yesterday, off and on) for 5 euros.

The square at Pisa is lovely, and all the “keep off the grass” signs keep it from being swarmed with people around all the buildings. The tour was short, and covered the famous tower (Torre Pendente), the less famous but far more beautiful Duomo, and also the Battistero where they perform baptisms.

Once you’ve done the tour, you’re left with being a silly tourist, and holding up the tower and such. We spent a good 45 minutes posing with Mark and Reed and muttering under our breath at the other tourists who walked into our frame. Mark has all of our good shots on his camera, and Beci has yet to get them from him (slacker).

May 29, 2007 – Today we arrive in Naples Italy . As the 3rd largest city in Italy , its home to 1.5 million and one of the best, yet worse shore tours I have ever been on. I’ll get to that in a minute.

We awoke just in time to see Mount Vesuvius on the distance and a tall masted ship in port as we worked our way into the berth. It was a beautiful day around 72 degrees in the am with a few gray rain clouds off into the distance.

Ok.. before I continue I need to be honest that the worse shore excursion part is actually from one perspective…mine. And further I must preface this to include the fact that I am not really scared of many things, but heights is a phobia I will admit to.

So… to continue. When you first get the long awaited list of available shore excursions you make a date with your significant other and/or family to figure out what you are going to do when you cruise. Chris and I did just that and normally we both find something we both want to do together. This time Naples offered us different options we both wanted to do conveniently packaged in one nifty 9.5 hour excursion.

Chris wanted to experience the Almalfi Coast and I wanted to wander the ruins of Pompeii so we opted for the Amalfi Coast Drive and Ruins of Pompeii tour. Looking at the description it sounds like it will be a peaceful drive along the coast to view the unique architecture and natural wonders along the coastline. In reality it was a very large bus winding its way over the mountains via a very tiny road that was lucky to have a straight area for more then half a football field or so at a time.

Deb & Linda joined us on this journey and we managed to add some new friends, Chuck and Tony as well. Poor guys… eerrr I mean lucky guys…. just happened to be in line with us as we got our bus assignments and we talked them into sitting with us too.

First of all, hats off to the driver who was able to maneuver that 50 passenger bus as if it was a 2 seater sports car even when the road narrowed to spots where only one car could pass. (yes… when I said tiny road, I meant it).

We winded our way up the side of the mountain from the port to the top of the crossing where the Guide, Gino, announced that we were almost to the Almalfi Coast where we would see the most beautiful sites including sheer cliffs that range up to 4000 feet high. as we went over the crest of the mountain, sure enough, he wasn't kidding. My heart was beating so fast and between the sheer height , the drop offs and the winding roads , I couldn't help but think I was on a thrill ride instead of a transfer to see one of the most beautiful villages I have ever seen. (If I could just open my eyes first!)

Instead of trying to interpret what I saw between my tightly clinched hands over my eyes, I will let Chris blog about the ride itself which I'm sure was breathtaking. (Further proven by listening to the gasps of people as we made our way up and down the mountains. While they warn you about possible motion sickness on this tour, I would also caution anyone who has a heights issue too.

When we arrived at Amalfi, we had about 40 minutes of free time to wander the village and we decided to tour the Cathedral of the Amalfi which has some origins back to 596 AD and also is the resting place of head and other bones of St Andrew, Jesus’ first disciple. Wow…

We boarded the bus and drove another 20 minutes to a hotel where lunch was served. Including wine of course.

After lunch we were on the way back towards Naples with a stop at Pompeii . This was of great significance to me. I was a Mt St Helens survivor of sorts– while I wasn't on the Mountain itself, I was camping on the south side of Mt Rainier just north of the volcano when St Helens blew and ended up walking in ash up to my hips and stuck in the icky goo for several days. That’s another story in itself.. so I digress. To continue … I have been very intrigued by Pompeii and the fate of the people who perished in the tragedy back in 79 AD. We toured the ruin and saw the streets complete with visible grooves in the stone from carts and chariots. Our guide Gino was a member of the archaeological team that helped unearth parts of the ruins back in the early 1970s so was full of information to share about the lives of the people who died here. As the rain started to fall on our out door tour, we moved a little faster through the site then I would have liked, but we did manage to see some of the original artwork and tiles that have been uncovered, along with a few of the bodies that were in the positions of their last moments and with expressions that provided an eerie glimpse into what that horrific day was like. That was truly an experience of a lifetime.

Tomorrow we arrive in Olbia, Sardinia Italy .

We've just pulled into port at Palermo – it's 8:00 here. I've handed off my new silk jacket to the Disney cleaning crew – it was collateral damage in a flying wine war last night! One of our table mates brought his cricket bat and used it to fling a full glass of wine onto Sandy and me (mostly Sandy). Our head waiter was there in a flash with cleaning tickets on the house, so I'm we're testing the dry cleaning guys to see if they can get it done before dinner tonight. They say it will be back in our cabin by 5:00!

So now it's on to breakfast, then we're off to visit Palermo and the village of Cefalu. We'll have full reports this evening – perhaps even two, as we've got a late dinner in the private room at Palo tonight and may be able to get in a post both before and after.

Arrivederci!

Chris Mahnken

Guest Blogger Chris Mahnken

Friday morning, after a stout 3 hours of sleep, making six hours in the past two nights, I got up early and met our crew (Deb, Linda, Sandy, & Sharon) for breakfast. After that we went to the Lobby to hook up with our informal guides (and fellow travelers) Gary and Karen. Next stop, well, the subway, but our goal was Montserrat.

Several transfers, ticket buyings, and about 90 minutes later we arrived at our stop. Montserrat – Aeri. Only it wasn't our stop. We should have stayed on the train for one additional stop to get to the rack railway station that would lead to the monastery. Instead we were at the gondola / cable car station for said cliff side religious haven. So rather than wait the hour between trains to go one stop further, we delved deep (5 euros) into our pockets for a ticket up the gondola.

One semi-terrifying ride later, we were several thousand feet up above the river valley at the famed Montserrat monastery. There are still monks in residence (I understand, I didn't see any) and there is also a small hotel.

We started by taking the Funicular up to the (near) peak of the mountain and then spent a leisurely morning walking back down the down the mountain trails to the monastery. If you're not afraid of a bit of exercise I'd encourage the walk if the weather is nice. The views were spectacular (if somewhat hazy in the morning).

By the time we got back down I was starving (no really, that distended belly is a sign of starvation, not beer). We went to the cafeteria and grabbed some lunch, and while it was not the equal of the food we'll be getting on the Magic, it was quite good.

After lunch we went up to the basilica and toured thru and got to see the black Madonna of Montserrat. The basilica is fantastic. Very well preserved and quite lovely. If you like to visit the churches of Europe, I'd be sure to add this one to your list. It's very nice.

At this point I was getting ready to take a nap on the first non-paved surface I could find, and everybody else was a bit tired also. We decided to hit the shops, and then start the long ride home. We were back to our hotel by 6:30.

Chris Mahnken

Beci continues:

We land in London May 24th – 10 am London time. The steward provides the landing card we need to fill out folks and a very coveted fast pass ticket that allows us to skip the regular queue and breeze right through the passport control station. What took us over an hour in our previous trip to London was just about 10 minutes. Our connection time here was a long one. Almost 7 hours. But there was a lot to keep us busy!

One thing I should mention is our arrival was met with a stairway not the auto gangway that goes right to the door. We descended the staircase and walked across the tarmac to the terminal where we were met with even more stairs. Something to be prepared for - check into arranging assistance ahead of time if needed.

We arrived in Terminal 1 and decided to check out the arrival lounge there before making our way to terminal 1 for our departure to Barcelona later that day. It seemed the air conditioning in the terminal was either not working or set for people who require 80 degree temps inside to survive. It was extremely hot in the dining room at the lounge but it would be an hour or so before we made it to terminal one so we stopped for a quick breakfast. They had fans set up in the room, but they weren’t doing much good, and since the terminal backed up onto a public street they had razor wire swirling outside the window. This just didn’t seem like the relaxing oasis I expected at the British flagship city, so we decided to move on to terminal one. The razor wire wasn’t the only sign of security. The Brits take this very seriously and there are serious guards with serious guns at several locations thru the airport.

British provide a nice step by step guide to getting from terminal 4 to terminal one which involves a bus transfer. Against my better judgment Chris says we are heading for the trains and while that little voice was screaming “conform to the map!” I knew we had 7 hours so what the heck….. We by passed the signs for the buses and headed for the Paddington station train with the first stop being.. you guessed it… terminal 1, 2 and 3. There is no charge for the terminal to terminal service and is highly recommended if you have the option from your arrival location. With Comfy seats and plenty of room for luggage you don’t feel cramped in the least.

TIP: if you are connecting through Heathrow, or any major airline really, be sure your flight times offer some time over what they consider a “legal connection’ time which is usually the bare minimum the airlines are willing to gamble will make it in time for you to reach the connecting flight. The odds begin to tip if your departure flight is late, the airport is too busy to clear your flight to land so you circle a while, and/or doesn’t have a pocket (ie the Queens English for - gate) to allow the flight to pull up to. We had all three of these situations during this journey.

We arrive at terminal one and are a little lost. The ticketing area is right there but we have boarding passes, so we just need to find the arrival/departure lounge. After a little searching and asking a nice gal at British bag drop, she points us to area “R” which is a hike to the other side of the terminal through several shops and counters unlike any airport I had seen before. We follow the signs to the First/Business class check in area and are escorted to a special security line where people actually help you thru the check point. I KNOW.. I couldn’t believe it either! J

The Lounge is located just beyond and here is the 2nd best part of my day… they offered us a shower. Basically they have private spacious rooms with a shower stall, sink, mirror and toilet. At the desk they will provide shampoo, conditioner, lotions, toothbrushes, razors and even shave gel. It was nice to refresh after the flight. But the best part was… they also have an onsite spa service with offers complimentary services. Chris and I both signed up for neck and back massages after the shower.

After our relaxation sessions, we had about 3 hours to spend in the lounge before the next connection to Barcelona . We found a quiet pocket near the service area so we could easily refill the cappuccinos and grab snacks. One thing that I found quite entertaining in the lounges are the conversations you over hear. Government contracts, 14 million dollar lawsuits and the pros and cons of i-pods vs the Zune. That last one was courtesy of one Kurt Russell (you know...... Captain Ron, Escape from LA, etc) and his traveling companion who sat approx 20 feet away. A few minutes later Goldie Hawn joined them and off they went to catch their flight.

And soon we were off to ours.

We landed in Barcelona approx 7 pm and after collecting our bags we found a gentleman holding a sign with our name who whisked us to our unique Disney transfer – a Mercedes. The driver had to have been practicing for the Indy 500 and would probably win. It was a fast yet strangely safe feeling race through and around the city to our hotel – The Hilton Diagonal Mar.

Upon arrival, we checked in and were upgraded to a nice corner Jar suite for our two night stay. Two separate rooms with a large bathroom and unique corner with large windows offering a nice view of the sea and city.

When we arrived we called Deb and Linda (blogging at www.allearsnet.com ) and met them for a drink to celebrate the journey!

Beci

Guest Blogger Beci Mahnken .....

We arrived at the airport in plenty of time to check in at the Alaska airlines desk for our first flight to Chicago . They tell us our bags have been checked thru but unfortunately we need to check ourselves in at the British desk in Chicago for the next two flight legs. This shouldn’t be a problem as we have 3 hours to make the connection and get where we need to be. Right?

The reality of the Chicago connection seemed a tad more complicated. Chris and I arrived in Chicago and worked our way thru the terminal to the shuttle leading to the international terminal where we checked in at the British airlines desk. The agent at the desk informed us that we were invited to go to the first class lounge located next to gate 11, but unfortunately they did not have a fast track line at O’Hare. Initially that was fine, until she further explained that the line was just about an hour long. (Ok.. I get it …. now I know why she was apologizing.) Behind us snaked a security line that made me wonder if 3 hours for a connection with time to enjoy that wonderful lounge, was indeed enough.

And here is a confession – if you are ever with me and we are presented with a choice of lines to get into please do not allow me to choose unless of course you have time to kill and have a desire to be in the longest line. For some reason I am cosmically drawn to the line that will have some kind of issue just moments before I am the next to go. Supermarkets, drive thrus, and yes airport security. I choose the line that for the last 15 minutes has been moving at a very quick pace. Just as we approach and are now one person form the security station, here comes an army of flight crews who of course have the priority to avoid delayed flights. We are stopped for what seems like an eternity.. (ok minutes, but f you hate lines as much as I do… then you get it) about 15 minutes later we are through the screening process and on our way to find the lounge.

Once there, we are checked in and offered a wide array or beverages and snacks to prepare for our flight. We were given the choice to have dinner before or during the flight so we elected to wait. We found a window seat and watched as our Boeing 777 aircraft pulled up to the gate next door. About 30 minutes later they announced boarding for first class passengers. We made our way onto the aircraft and to our seats… errr.. beds… err pods. That may be the best description – pods. Each seat was very private with its own controls, nice sized table that lifted out of the console, and personal entertainment screen. They even provided a light weight sleep suit, slippers and a personal amenity kit with lip balm, tooth brush, toothpaste, eye shades and a pair of comfy socks for the trip. Nice touch!

Once airborne we were provided menus for dinner which provided several starter options as well as entrees. Chris had the Lobster salad with sesame chicken and I opted for the steak and mushroom pie with mashed potatoes. Dessert was New York cheese cake with berries. They also had a nice wines list with 3 reds, 3 whites and champagne as well.

After dinner the stewards came around and converted the seats to beds. Fully flat, approx 6 feet and was a very comfy way to cross the pond. I even managed to get a little sleep to prepare for the next leg of the journey that will take us to Barcelona .

Beci

Guest Blogger Beci Mahnken, owner of MouseFanTravel.com begins her blog....
Beci's husband Chris, has the earlier blog entry.

Day 1 - May 23

Europe in 4 bags or less

We are about to embark on 16 nights of city hopping starting in Seattle and visiting many places including London , Barcelona , Rome and Monaco . This adventure actually began 24 hours ago when the realization hit that I should actually start packing for this trip. In a mad frenzy of laundry and checking weather.com against the weather channel – who coincidentally don’t seem to agree on if it will be 70 or 79 in Rome … I found myself confronted with the sad truth that I was about to break my own cardinal rule. “Never travel with more the one checked bag.”

It’s amazing how you begin to negotiate with yourself, when faced with such a dilemma of packing for 16 days and for almost any occasion. “This will be good for the shore excursions, this will be good for the sail away party and I can wash this in the sink if needed… and this will be ok for formal night since I don’t actually know anyone, let alone actually own a beaded gown myself. Then come the doubts… but what do I do if it rains? Better take this shirt … but what happens if the polar ice caps melt… better take this life preserver… oh right… plenty of those on board. Finally just when you think you have managed to get both what you need and want you want in one tidy suitcase, you realize its definitely over 50 pounds. Dang! Break out the 2nd bag. I felt better when Chris told me he also decided to break out bag 2.

We are on the way to Sea Tac airport in a few hours. It’s a mid morning flight that will take us from Seattle , connecting in Chicago to London where we change planes yet again on the way to Barcelona . The best thing about this part of the trip is we have saved, and saved, and saved air miles to fly in first class. I am one of those people who cannot manage to sleep on a plane in a sitting position so am hoping the flat beds offer at least a few hours sleep to help avoid jet lag.

Beci

Chris and Beci Mahnken, owners of MEI Travel and MouseFanTravel.com are traveling with Deb Wills and Linda Eckwerth on Disney's First Mediterranean Cruise. Beci and Chris will be blogging along with Deb and Linda sharing their adventures.

Here is Chris's pre-trip entry:

Pity me. I'm going on an 11 day Disney Mediterranean Cruise.

The cruise will be fantastic with great food, great friends, and great sights to see of course. A once in a lifetime sort of trip. But…

It seems like just about every time I go overseas I end up just barely missing some really cool event. My first trip to Dublin came the week after U2 stopped playing as the house band at the bar in their hotel in Dublin. My first Trip to Paris came during le Tour de France, a yearly event that I follow religiously. The race was in the west, near Saint-Malo on the day I had free, but I couldn't get out there and back in time to see any of it.

This year we're going on the inaugural 11 day cruise of the Disney Magic in the Mediterranean. Barcelona, Palermo, Naples, Olbia, Rome, Florence, Marseilles, Monte Carlo, and back to Barcelona. So of course there will be an even nearby that I can almost get to, but not quite.

Beyond le Tour de France, one of my favorite sporting events is Formula one. Last Saturday the F1 circus was in, yes, Barcelona for the Spanish Grand Prix. I missed it by 11 days. Even worse, on the 27th of May, while we're at sea between Barcelona and Palermo, the Grand Prix of Monaco will take place without me. A week later on the 4th I'll be in Monte Carlo. Just in time to see the removal of the last of the grandstands and Armco barriers.

I'm going on an 11 day Disney Mediterranean Cruise. Life is hard.