MSC Fantasia - Eastern Mediterranean Cruise

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.

The gondolas were awesome, and so much bigger than I expected.

View from Rialto Bridge ...

We ran into this awesome little shop right off the Rialto Bridge. This guy had these barrels of wine set-up from his family's winery, and you could fill up a liter and half water bottle for 3 euro! Basically wine on tap, and it was awesome ... and I filled one up.

Nothing is classier than Italian wine out of a recycled water bottle ...

Canals ...

St. Mark's Square ...

Gondolas are expensive! Normally we do not make big splurges like this, but ... when in Venice! We could not leave this city without a gondola ride. The cheapest I saw was 80€ for thirty minutes, but I know there are some 60€ options somewhere in the city. It's really not a bad deal if you decide to split it with another family or couple ... but I didn't want strangers on my romantic, once-in-a-lifetime, ride. It was well worth the money - Elliott had a blast, and we got some awesome pictures. Our gondola driver told us that he averages 100 rides a day! Holy cow ... do the math and that's big money!

 I love this shot ... 

Riding through the canals was my favorite. It was amazing how they could navigate these huge boats with such ease.

The next day we got an early start to the day and started to make our way to the boat. We took the bus back into the city of Venice, and jumped on the People Mover - which took us right to the port. Too easy.

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!

The countdown is on ...

I'm working on getting our cruise pictures posted, but there are so many of them! We had an absolute blast. All of our stops were beautiful, and, with the exception of one day, the weather was fantastic.

We decided to cancel our trip to Normandy this weekend. I'm pretty sad about it, but it was a lot of money, and we decided to be responsible ... for once. We are at our 60-day point for returning stateside, so it's in our best interest to put aside all the money that we can - in case our plan doesn't work like we are hoping. It was a really, really expensive trip - as amazing as it would have been ... it just wasn't smart. Normandy was one of my big bucket list places, so we're definitely coming back at some point in our lives! We still have Spain to look forward to in December, so not all is lost! I got a ridiculously good deal on the Spain trip, so no cancellation there :)

Vic has all of his paperwork ready, and he should get his orders by the end of next week. Orders are the key to getting us out of here ... once we have those we can get our household goods packed up, and get a flight booked. I think I get more nervous by the day about this whole transition ... we seem to think of new things every day that we are going to need once we get home. I keep telling myself that it can't be any worse than moving to Germany 34-weeks pregnant!!

Also, our house phone is broken ... kaput as the Germans would say. Obviously we aren't going to buy a new one for 60-days, so no more phones call from us :(

Anyway, back to sorting through the cruise pictures!

Amsterdam

We are headed home from our trip to Amsterdam, and we had such a fun experience. We rented a car and made the six-hour drive quite easily. We ran into a little traffic once we got into the Netherlands, but we arrived at our hotel with enough time to head downtown, grab some dinner and look around. Our hotel was great - a bit outside the city-center, but it was clean and quiet.

We walked around for a bit in search of the perfect spot for dinner. We wanted something traditionally Dutch, and settled for a cute little pub. Vic ordered croquettes - which look like mozzarella cheese sticks, but are filled with gravy and meat. The waitress talked me into, hutspot, a mashed potato and meatball mix. It didn't sound appealing, but she swore that I would like it. Both meals were really good, and we washed them down with a couple pints of beer! Elliott stuck to his typical French fries, and the waitress kept sneaking him cookies.

There happened to be a fair going on, so we decided to hang out there, and keep the sightseeing for the next day. Elliott had a blast riding rides, and we found some amazing treats.

One of the many penis-shaped items we saw in our two days. Seriously, there were penises everywhere.

These were waffles covered in powdered sugar, whipped cream and strawberries. Vic has, very much, been missing American funnel cakes, and these did everything to beat his craving. He is still talking about how good they were.

We headed back in order to get a good night of sleep because we were planning on a very full day of sightseeing.

We had our second day pretty much planned out. We knew we wanted to tour the Heineken factory, and we wanted to do it early since we were dragging along a child. We actually ended up being one of the first people there when they opened the doors. The tour was really neat, and Elliott, actually, enjoyed himself. It was very interactive and self-guided ... and there was free beer, so everyone had a good time.

He had so much fun ...

Dancing in the "club" ...

Awesome light display ...

After the tour, we headed to a cute little brownstone restaurant right across the street. Vic ordered some more croquettes and I enjoyed some sort of strange ham sandwich. 

We jumped back onto the tram - in the search for Ann Frank's house. The public transportation in Amsterdam was too easy - it definitely ranks in the top few of the cities we have visited. Amsterdam does rank in the bottom as far as public restrooms. There was no bathroom access - unless you were a customer of an establishment. Even the train station didn't have public bathrooms. This certainly complicated things while toting around a two-year-old who has to pee every hour. They did have these caged in urinals for men to pee on the street, but we weren't brave enough to risk the germs in one of those. I really wish I would have taken a picture of one!

Even their statues are penis-shaped ...

Tickets to the Ann Frank house were sold out online, and the line to buy them at the actual museum wrapped around the block. I would have loved to tour the inside, but standing in line for hours with Elliott was just not going to happen. We settled for some photos outside and enjoyed some pretty views from the bank of the water across the street. I loved all the canals and boats.

Everyone told us that we had to, at least, walk through the Red Light District, and Elliott was napping, so it was the perfect opportunity. Obviously the prostitution was not in full-swing during the daylight, but it did not stop the marijuana smoking! It was pretty funny to see people sitting outside, enjoying their lunch, and smoking a big ol' joint ... haha. I was really expecting people to be acting crazy, but we only saw one guy who had, clearly, over-indulged on the drugs.

A "coffee shop" ;)

Drinking a beer in the red-light district. So fun to people watch ...

Amazing treats ... probably very much enjoyed by people who just smoked a whole bunch of weed ...

The city is very open a free about their tolerance of sex and drugs. You, literally, see drug and sex paraphernalia EVERYWHERE! The people were all so nice and laid-back though ... which makes sense to me!

Seriously, penises in a cute little pottery store ...

Penis street barricades ...

We spent the rest of our day just walking around and enjoying the atmosphere. We choose an Argentinian steakhouse for dinner, and it did not disappoint.

We headed back to the fair after dinner - mostly so Elliott could enjoy himself, and for more dessert. I tried the waffle creation again - this time I got it smothered in chocolate sauce. Oh my gosh ... so amazing.

He picked the tank again ...

Vic saw a great opportunity to win Elliott a prize, and, of course, he succeeded. There was a younger guy standing nearby (the guy in the right of the picture below) who was watching Vic in amazement. He couldn't believe that he had hit 12 straight targets. He went up to Vic to congratulate him and said, "yo man, are you a cop?" Haha ... he was so impressed. 

That was the end of our Amsterdam adventure. We headed back to the train station and made the trek back to our hotel.

Like always, I wish we had a few more days in this city. If we had more time here - it would definitely be a place we returned to. We have one more free weekend and then we're off on our week-long cruise!!

  

Cooties.

I wish I had more time to update this thing! Elliott woke up today with a little stomach virus, and I jumped at the opportunity to stay home for the day with hi. As much as I love that he has so much fun at daycare - I miss hanging out with him ... and, let's face it, I didn't want to go to work either.

Elliott was spoiled rotten with care packages last week from Nana Jen and Poppy and RaeRae. My mom sends so much stuff that Elliott is convinced that whenever he gets something new - it's from Nana. If Vic and I buy him a toy he'll say, "oh, Nana bought me dis?" Haha ... either way, he's spoiled rotten, but he definitely appreciated all the presents. This is the aftermath ...

I always mean to take some pictures of E and his friends at daycare, but by the time I get to work I'm rushing to drop him off in order to get to my classroom on time. I did have a brief moment the other day when they were sitting down to wait to brush their teeth. If I have learned anything from working in a daycare - it is what a sweet little angel he really is ...

This is how we found him when we went into his room to pick him up. Vic and I were dying laughing ... haha, we are going to try to grow out his hair a bit for winter, and we want to see if his curls are still around!

The other morning E had something shining out of his ear. I reached in to wipe it away, and it was his tube from over a year ago! So gross, but kind of cool. I called the doctor, and apparently there are no issues, and he isn't having any problems. Yuck ...

We headed down to Oktoberfest last weekend and had a great day. We really lucked out with the trip. We left early enough to miss the crazy traffic, and were actually able to find seats. We shared a train car with some pretty rowdy Germans who entertained us most of the way. We were not able to get into an actual tent once we got to the fest, but we found some great seats at a beer garden. I have some great pictures of us enjoying the "festivities", but I have to wait a couple more weeks to post them ... because of some Army rules ...

Our drindl and lederhosen were cute, but so uncomfortable!! I don't think we have ever been so relived to get home and changed ...

The whole group! So, Oktoberfest is really just a big fair with a ton of beer. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but I was a little surprised that people come from all of the world for this. I am certainly glad that we went, but I think three years in Germany had raised my expectations a little high on what we were going to encounter!

The boys winning us some prizes!

My favorite part of the day came on the train ride home. There was a soldier headed back to Grafenwoehr who was so obnoxiously drunk - talking so loud, cursing, and falling down. Everyone was annoyed with him, and he was making all of us Americans look bad. Anyway, when we got to our last stop he was playing around and falling down in his seat, and the train doors ended up closing in his face ... hilariously trapping him in the car and leaving him banging on the windows for his friends - who had made it off the train in time. It was a pretty funny sight as the train took off and the look of panic set in on his face. I'm not sure where the next stop was, or how he was going to find his way home in his drunken state, but it made for a pretty good laugh.

Elliott has learned so many new songs at daycare ... that he sings/annoys us with at home. This one is my favorite ...

I'm bringing home a baby bumblebee ... won't my mama be so proud of me! I like the part when he tells me to stop singing ... haha. My big brother and I used to sing this all the time!

The Calm Before the Storm ...

We have one more weekend before the craziness begins. Our Oktoberfest trip on the 27th kicks off a series of trips and busy weekends ... which will lead directly into our house being packed up and taken away - hopefully the first week of November! I have started going through and selling some stuff that we no longer need and/or will not be bringing back to the states. I am a little nervous we are going to go over our weight limit and end up paying some hefty fines, but I suppose we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I'm trying not to think too much about the actual task of moving home because it makes me severely anxious, but hopefully everything will go as planned .... and they don't misplace any valuables, dogs, tvs, cars ... or toddlers along the way!

Work has been interesting ... and it is keeping Elliott and I very busy. This week I caught a disgusting case of pink-eye and wa sent home for 48 hours. It was uncomfortable, but I was able to get caught up on laundry!

Last weekend Vic and I went to Nuremberg for a friend's birthday and had so much fun. Elliott stayed with our awesome babysitter, and they had a blast - Elliott woke up in the morning and was really disappointed that she had left!

We took the train, and went to our favorite sushi spot - then headed out afterwards to a great british pub. We're all going our separate ways in the next several months ... pretty sad, but that's Army life for you!!

Elliott is doing great ... I don't think he ever stops talking. He can count to 12 in a breeze, and can recognize about 10 letters (depending on his mood). He loves playing with the tablet and is actually better at operating it than me. He is really into the game Angry Birds and it amazes me how he can figure out certain boards. I'd like to say I don't like him playing it too much, but whatever - it keeps him entertained and it's good for hand-eye-coordination ... or at least that's what I tell myself :)

Vic is all set-up with classes to start in January. He is working to get us home a couple weeks early so he doesn't have to miss any days. I think we have a general neighborhood picked out where we want to live, and I called this week to get Elliott on a few waitlists for a two-day-a-week preschool program. Now I just need to work on finding a job!! I am hoping I can have something secured, so I can relax for a week, and catch-up with family and friends ... and food when we get home! Vic and I have spoke extensively about the first place we're going to eat ... haha ... we can't wait!!!