Exciting or Terrifying? A Med PTR

TestingH2O

DIS Veteran
Joined
Jun 10, 2014
Well, our gold cruise is almost here! Less than 90 days and I am soooo ready. Last year we cruised over spring break, and that was amazing. I need to keep reminding myself that March is when I really need the time away. Plus we had to wait a WHOLE year between cruises. Life is hard man. Lol.

Seriously though, I am so lucky to be planning this trip. I have never been to any of the cities we are visiting, and I am really excited to see them all.

So, what might be terrifying? A transatlantic flight with a newly 6 year old. She's great traveler, but this is a whole new level.

I'm going to be updating this PTR in the coming days with what I've planned so far. If you've got suggestions, I'd love them. I am also addicted to PTRs because it helps me channel my vacation excitement.
 
How did we get here?

In 2017, we took two cruises: SWDAS and Alaska. Leading up to SWDAS, my dad decided that he really wanted to see Alaska. We had an OBB and used it for that. While on SWDAS, we loved the Fantasy. So, we booked an Eastern!

But this report is about the Med! How did that happen? Well, on our way home after Alaska, we were talking about how much we loved the Claesic ships and the fun ports. Just for fun, we looked at Med options and found out exact same rooms from Alaska for less money than the Eastern! So, we moved our OBB. Woohoo!

I've been planning for quite a while, but I hadn't started a PTR. This week though, when I'm so ready for vacation, I feel the need to think about the fun I'll be having in June.

Details

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We are on the June 9 sailing that goes round trip out of Barcelona. We will start on Barcelona several days before the trip to see what that city has to offer.

The travelers are my parents, my daughter, she will be 6, and me!
 
Signing on!!! Can't wait to follow along with your PTR adventure! And of course, read all about it when you return ;-)
Absolutely! Did I read that you're doing Alaska again?!

Hope you're well. I know it's been a hard year.
 


First Step

We decided to start looking at places to stay. European hotels are not really geared towards families, so we decided to look at AirBnB. We found a beautiful spot and the host agreed to give us 2017 prices because we were booking early.

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Living room

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Kitchen. I'm excited to cook some local ingredients here. There's also laundry facilities in the unit so we can get on board with clean clothes.

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My parents' room.

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The room I'll share with my daughter.

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Beautiful updated bathroom. There's a second bath that is just as nice attached to the second bedroom.

The location is great and very central. Eeeeeek! I can't wait to see it.
 
Absolutely! Did I read that you're doing Alaska again?!

Hope you're well. I know it's been a hard year.

Thank you, yes it hasn't been easy the past few months but it's getting 'easier'.

Yes we are going back to Alaska in 2019! Just my husband and I to celebrate our 15th anniversary! Our youngest daughter seems fine with it (as long as we bring her something back lol) but our older daughter is not best pleased to be left out of a Disney cruise....oh my.....:D

That looks like a lovely place you have secured for the first part of your trip!
 
We have seat assignments! Yes, I know they can change, but I'm going to hope we keep these because they are great! Two seat rows directly in front of one another. This means we all have an aisle or a widow and no strangers!

We also took a quick beach getaway with my in laws. Very fun. I've never been to Alabama before! The weather was mediocre but family time and putting my toes in the sand was divine.

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Walking around the resort.

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Visitor in our backyard.

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Heading to the beach. :: love::

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Red flag but still beautiful.

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And sand is always fun!

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Beautiful beach houses. So colorful!

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Drinks with this much fruit scream vacation. Plus, who couldn't love a restaurant called Sassy Bass?

We came back Friday and got to enjoy Easter at home.

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Just over two months to go!

Confession: I started my packing spreadsheet this weekend.
 
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50 Days!

I've written the packing list. I haven't printed it yet though because it could still change.

We've decided on all of our FE gifts. I need to finish making some of them.

We've booked our excursions and decided to just get off the ship in Cannes to explore.

The current hitch is DD. She just learned about Italy in school and is now asking to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I've been to Pisa and didn't love it. At the same time, I want to encourage her curiosity.

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DCL has a couple affordable options for Pisa. I guess we may just do that for convenience.

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what airline are you flying? flying across the atlantic with a 6 year old is pretty easy, especially if you have seatback entertainment, which i assume you do..
however, even if you have seatback entertainment, i would load up an iphone/ipad with content for her to watch, both on the plane and while waiting for the plane..
and invest in a good pair of child earphones (the kind that are blocked from getting too loud by accident)..
.
 
Plus, who couldn't love a restaurant called Sassy Bass?

Hey, you were just down the road (about an hour) from us! Sorry the weather wasn't good...March and April are sort of inconsistent around here.

The current hitch is DD. She just learned about Italy in school and is now asking to see the Leaning Tower of Pisa. I've been to Pisa and didn't love it. At the same time, I want to encourage her curiosity.

I liked the Tower and the Baptistry, it was just wading through the hawkers I disliked...enough to not return! At least you can get a "holding up the Tower" family photo. Good for you for supporting DD's desire to learn :)
 
Pisa Update

I found a vlog from last summer and, based on her experience, I think we will do the Pisa (LV07) excursion. I am interested in hearing a guided tour since we did it ourselves last time. I think this will be a nice mix of structured time and free time. I am sure we could save some money booking everything on our own, but for this, I want it to be easy.

I hope we can find some gelato while we are there. It's a lot of work to hold up that tower for the photos. :rotfl2:

Vlog if you're interested: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLxexFc5z2eEO7b015nf9X94IRo0JOtVmY
 
Progress!

First of all, tomorrow it will be the month before we cruise!

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This weekend or cruiser document arrived. Mickey mail is the best.

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DD and I also went to the library and I picked up a book for her to read to learn some more before we travel.

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Finally, I finished making the FE gifts for all the females in our exchange. Now I just have to label/package. Woohoo!

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I can't wait for your trip report! Unintentionally, I seem to be following in your footsteps a bit. I tend to cruise with my 7 year old and my parents, so our sailing group is comparable to yours. We recently completed a Fantasy SWDAS sailing (our grand slam) and will be heading to Alaska next May. Your trip report has been amazing for providing some great excursion ideas. We missed the classics while on the Fantasy and looked longingly at the Magic as we engaged in a horn battle in Grand Cayman while on the Fantasy. Who knows? Perhaps we'll book a Med sailing after our Alaska trip (though right now my thought is that DS and I will do a land trip in Italy in 2020). Happy sailing (and planning)!
 
I can't wait for your trip report! Unintentionally, I seem to be following in your footsteps a bit. I tend to cruise with my 7 year old and my parents, so our sailing group is comparable to yours. We recently completed a Fantasy SWDAS sailing (our grand slam) and will be heading to Alaska next May. Your trip report has been amazing for providing some great excursion ideas. We missed the classics while on the Fantasy and looked longingly at the Magic as we engaged in a horn battle in Grand Cayman while on the Fantasy. Who knows? Perhaps we'll book a Med sailing after our Alaska trip (though right now my thought is that DS and I will do a land trip in Italy in 2020). Happy sailing (and planning)!
So funny. I'm following a couple people on the board too. I am so glad you find the reports useful. I enjoy writing them.
 
Well, we leave town 4 weeks from today. Eeeeeek!

We were able to get a much cheaper flight (like half price) if we flew out of Chicago instead of St Louis. My dad is worried about the drive so we are driving halfway on Sunday and flying out on Monday. I think it's a bit silly but if it makes him happy ok.

I've started taking the packing thing seriously.

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That bin is things that still need to find homes and/or things that need to go on the top of the suitcase because I'll carry them on to the ship.

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That's the start to my suitcase. A few family surprises, our pirate outfits, and our formal clothes are in. I feel confident I won't need a sparkly cocktail dress or pirate outfit in the next few weeks. :rotfl:

If you've read my reports before, you know I make ring chains for my daughter to countdown the days before or trips. Since we hit the one month mark this week, I need to get it assembled this weekend.

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I'm so excited to go! However there is a LOT of work to do. Three weeks left at my school where I teach, one of which is at camp. Have I mentioned that I don't camp? I'll be more than ready for this cruise.

DD had 4 weeks left full of fields trips, field day, end of years parties, and her 6th birthday.Woohoo!:bounce: My parents got her a new suitcase for her birthday. It's purple to match her wheeled carry on of course. She won't get it for a few more weeks though so I'll have to start filling get packing cubes without it.

Next weekend I plan to take her to buy sandals for the trip and summer. I also ordered six pairs of shoes for me for walking around all our ports. Surely one of them will work. I warned DH that they were coming and reassured him that they weren't all staying.

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The next month will fly by for you I am sure!

Love how organized you are, we board the Wonder next Wednesday and all I have are lists, no packing as of yet :rotfl2:
 
The next month will fly by for you I am sure!

Love how organized you are, we board the Wonder next Wednesday and all I have are lists, no packing as of yet :rotfl2:
I pack to keep myself from obsessing over how slow time seems to go right around now.
 

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