We had so much fun on our cruise last year that we had to book another - this time for the eastern side of the Mediterranean. Cruises are a great way to travel, and especially if you have a bucket list of several countries that you want to knock out in one trip. I chose this particular cruise for the stops in Greece and Croatia. Of course, I contacted Mitch at Military Cruise Deals when it came time to book. I think I get asked on a weekly basis how I book my cruises, and I'm always giving out Mitch's name - he's great, and will help you with any questions and concerns. Just checkout http://www.militarycruisedeals.com/ ... peruse the cruises and then give him a call or email when you have an idea of what you want. He will, most likely, get you a better deal than what is listed online.
I also get asked on a weekly basis how we afford to take all of our vacations - which, in my opinion, is kind of a weird question to ask someone. We have no big secret - no rich relatives, no lucrative side job, no maxed out credit cards - just a regular old savings account! I swear. My husband was also deployed, so that allowed us to save a good chunk of vacation money. The cruises through Military Cruise Deals can be reserved with a $200 deposit, so it gives you an opportunity to continue to save and/or make payments. Every other vacation of ours is planned very carefully - I always shoot for the cheaper hotels, and we cut corners when possible. I live for booking.com and Ryanair deals.
For this particular cruise I wanted something out of Venice, so we could drive or take the train, and I wanted to be able to cross Venice off our list. Once I narrowed it down from there - I knew I wanted stops in Greece and one other country besides Italy. Vic had ruled out any visits to Turkey - apparently he had seen enough during his six-month deployment, so that made for an easy choice for Croatia. I decided on the MSC Fantasia, and it did not disappoint. We cruised with MSC last year, and did not have a single issue, so we stayed with what we knew - plus, kids cruise free, and you can't beat that!
We decided to take the train into Venice. I couldn't find any great deals on airfare, and we weren't even considering driving our big Jeep. I went to the train station in Vilseck and found an amazing deal - we were able to book round-trip tickets for 120€ with a VAT form. I was so stoked.
Our train ride to Venice was effortless and comfortable - we had an awesome little pod to ourselves, and Elliott was plenty entertained. The ride home was not as smooth, but we'll get to that!
We arrived in Venice two days before our cruise - with plenty of time to explore before embarkation. I booked our hotel in Mestre - just a short bus ride into the city. We got in late the first night, so we headed straight to the hotel, grabbed a bite to eat, and crashed.
Venice was beautiful. I could have spent days exploring the canals ... and eating. The city is not stroller friendly what-so-ever, so Vic and I got a great arm workout carrying the stroller up and down the hundreds of bridges throughout the city.
Embarkation was a breeze. We grabbed a special sticker because of Elliott and zipped right through the line. Cruise tip - your large luggage will be tagged and taken by the crew for inspection. Sometimes it will beat you to your door, and other times it may take hours. Make sure you have everything you may need in your hand luggage - including swimsuits!! That way you can enjoy the pools while everyone else is waiting for their baggage to be delivered! Elliott and Vic had the pool to themselves ... a rare thing on a cruise!! I 'accidentally' forgot my bathing suit ... just like I 'accidentally' put on 20 pounds in the last two months. Oops.
Indoor Pool ...
One of the outdoor pool areas ... we weren't brave enough for that ...
I love this shot.
Of course, we had to do our mandatory safety brief ... which Vic loves.
Another cruise tip ... especially if you have kids. Bring a cheap over-the-door shoe organizer. There is not a ton of room in your cabin or the bathroom, so these are perfect for holding ... just about anything!
Our first stop of the ship was Bari, Italy. We did not have a particular plan for Bari, or anything that we wanted to see specifically, so we just spent the day roaming around ... and eating. You can walk into the town from the cruise port, so there is no need to book an excursion or a shuttle bus.
One of the more interesting sights in Bari is the Basilica of Saint Nicholas - which actually holds the tomb of St. Nicholas. Of course, St. Nicholas Day is major over here in Europe, so that was pretty net to see.
St. Nicolas and Elliott (not a saint) ...
Tomb of St. Nicholas ...
In front of Basilica of Saint Nicholas ...
The squares in Bari were very open and had a mix of old and new architecture. We sat for a beer and ice cream and let Elliott chase the birds while we relaxed ...
These pictures don't do justice, but the streets looked like they were tight out of a movie set - with the laundry hanging on the lines and shutters open. It was very beautiful.
The next day was Olympia, Greece. This was our only bad weather of the trip - it was POURING when we stepped off the boat. I told myself for this cruise that we were not going to take any excursions through the boat. They are great, but super expensive. I ended up changing my mind for Olympia - mostly due to time constraints. We had a short day in this port, and the site of Olympia was almost an hour from the ship. I decided to book an excursion to make sure we were able to see all that we could ... and not get left behind. We had a great guide who was so full of knowledge - not only about Olympia, but Greek history in general.
Ancient Olympia ... you can see where they continue to excavate different areas ...
Vic with ruins of the city.
Recreated column of the Temple of Zeus.
Ruins of the Temple of Zeus.
Entrance to the first olympic stadium.
Vic and Elliot on the starting line!
Elliott actually ran from the starting line all the way to the finish line!
Philippeion.
Elliott covered in excursion stickers ... he's easily entertained.
Our third day was my most anticipated ... Santorini! Getting off the boat at this stop is a little different. They don't pull up to an actual port, but instead you are tendered to the island on a ferry. For this we had to pick-up a ticket early in the morning for our requested time. I knew I wanted to beat the crowd, so I made it down there first thing so we could catch the earliest ferry. My planned worked wonderfully, and we were the first people to the cable cars to take us up to Fira.
Elliott has no fear ... he loved the cable cars!
View of our ship!
First views of Santorini.
Now he looks a little unsure ...
From the top of the cable cars.
We spent most of the morning just walking around and popping into different shops. The views from every direction were amazing.
We settled on a spot for lunch ... with a view ... and beer.
Our go-to beer of the trip was Mythos ... a greek beer,, of course.
View from lunch.
A look at the cable cars going back down.
We spent a few more hours just enjoying the sights and shopping. The locals were really friendly. About an hour before we needed to be back at the boat we checked out the line for the cable cars to take us back down, and it was outrageous. We decided, since the views were so beautiful, we would just walk down! Piece of cake, right?
The start of the trek ...
Prickly pears for sale on the way down ...
.. and a whole fish ...
... or some roasting crabs ...
For 5euro you could also take a donkey down. I actually felt a little bad for the donkeys, and Vic had Elliott on his back, so the mode of transportation wasn't going to work. It was slightly scary to walk on the backside of all of these mules ... nothing ruins your day like a donkey-kick to the face. Luckily, we escaped unscathed.
Vic wins dad of the year for carrying E around all day ... and not slipping in donkey poop on the way down.
I love this shot.
Apparently the walk down was quite calming for Elliott ... he was knocked out by the time we got the the ferry boat.
Looking back at the island .. you can see the winding pathway that we walked down.
Athens was our next day. The weather was perfect, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. We decided to take a cab from the port to the train station and take the subway into the city. The plan worked fairly well - we ended up getting off at the wrong train station, but managed to stumble right into Ancient Agora - which led us on a nice little sightseeing path up to Acropolis.
Acropolis from Ancient Agora.
Temple of Hephaestus.
Vic climbing a peak right at the base of Acropolis ... the views from the top were amazing of th city of Athens.
Theater of Dionysus.
Making our way up to the Parthenon.
The Erechtheion.
Parthenon.
More of the Erechtheion.
Back to the Parthenon.
The sights were just truly amazing ... and so massive!
View of the Temple of Zeus from Acropolis.
Another shot of the Theater of Dionysus.
Vic took this walking back down ... awesome shot of the city.
Not sure what we were supposed to be standing in front of, but you can tell Elliott is tired at this point.
Our next stop was the Temple of Zeus - just a short walk from Acropolis.
The Temple of Zeus was unbelievably huge.
Temple of Zeus with Acropolis in the background.
Our train ride back to the port was interrupted by a lunch-time strike by train drivers. We managed to jump on the subway when the re-opened, but we realized there had been a time change in Greece the night before and we weren't sure what time we were supposed to be on the ship. I was so nervous that we had missed the ship - thinking we were actually an hour ahead. We managed to get back fairly quickly, and thankfully, the ship was still docked ... whew. This scenario reminded me why you should probably bring your passports while you're exploring off the ship ...
The next day was Corfu - our last stop in Greece. We actually lost of all our pictures from this day. The island was amazing, so I'm pretty sad about it, but at least it was only Corfu, and not the entire trip!
We got off the boat later in the morning, so we took advantage of the weather and sat out on the deck as we arrived into the port.
This is Corfu from the boat ... we dont' have any pictures of this, but we explored the old fortress seen here. It was such a nice walk with perfect views. Elliott slept most of the day in Corfu, so we didn't do anything crazy. We spent a good couple of hours outside at a cafe just eating, drinking, and enjoying the sunshine.
And, Last, but not least ... we made it to Dubrovnik, Croatia. This city was so awesome. Again, we decided to skip out on an excursion and jump on the city bus ... which saved us about 90 euro. The city of Dubrovnik is an amazingly intact walled-city. The architecture is amazing, and the city is so clean and beautiful. We spent most of our morning just exploring inside the walls.
Little alley-ways ...
St. Blasius Church ...
Elliott spent the majority of our vacation chasing birds in various cities ...
Hard to see, but the front of this church had an olive (?) tree growing out of it ... really cool.
More alleys ways ... way better in person ...
We spent the rest of the day enjoying the sights of the Adriatic Sea ...
We also stumbled upon a really neat aquarium. It wasn't too big, but had a wide variety of really neat fish. Elliott had a blast.
After the aquarium we finished exploring the outside part of the wall. Elliott had been dying to pet, one of the many, stray cats we had seen in Dubrovnik, so we finally let him pet this guy ... and then immediately sanitized his hands.
The have filmed several episodes of Game of Thrones here ... it's not hard to tell why ...
We had lovely seaside drinks and then grabbed pizza for lunch before we had to head back to the boat. Dubrovnik was definitely a hit, and and highly suggested for anyone planning a European vacation.
Every night on the boat we enjoyed our amazing seven-course meal and then we would either catch a show, or find some place for Elliott to dance .... because the kid loves to dance. The ship is great because there is so much open space that you can always find a booth ... or a stage ... to call your own ...
Ous room was perfect. Last year we were upgraded to a balcony suite, but this year we weren't so lucky. I was apprehensive that I would feel claustrophobic with an interior room, but, honestly, you don't spend enough time in there to even notice. Of course we missed our morning views from the balcony, but, again, we can't take all these trips without cutting corners somewhere!
Our trip home started at 8:00 am the next morning. Our train ride changed last minute and we only had one shot to catch the train out of Venice, or we would have been stranded until the next day. I spoke with Guest Services our first day on-board, and they were great about making sure we were off the boat with the first group. We took our first train from Venice to Verona, then from Verona we went to a little Austrian town just across the German border. There, because of construction, we had to board a bus to take us to the next working stop. From there we took another train to Munich. From Munich we headed to Nuremberg. If you're keeping up - that's three trains and a bus. On our way to Nuremberg I noticed that we could catch an earlier train to Vilseck, but we would need to switch trains, and move 20 platforms - in five minutes ... with 100 lbs. of luggage, a stroller, and Elliott. The Rosario's are always up for a challenge, so we were set and ready to run as soon as we pulled into Nuremberg. I am pretty sure we made some kind of record to that Vilseck train, and we still had about 45 seconds to spare. We were back home within the hour - almost three hours earlier than planned. Not the easiest train ride, but Elliott was so great through it all ... and for the price we paid - we couldn't really complain!
MSC is a great cruise line ... don't let the reviews fool you. It is an Italian cruise line, so some things will be different if you're used to american-style cruising, but the customer service is wonderful, and the amenities are far beyond what you pay for.
If you happen to come across this as a military wife stationed in Europe ... please feel free to message me with questions about cruises, or any other trips. We are, officially, finished with trip planning, but I would love to help others if needed!
