Our Magical "It's All Part of the Adventure" London + 10-Night Med Cruise - July 2018 - Completed!

[disneyfaninaz]

We haven't been on the Magic in a long time. Your photographs of Rapunzel's Royal Table have me wanting to book on her just to see it.

If you get a chance do it. Disney nailed it with this restaurant theme. I'm really looking forward to eating at Tiana's in October.

It's so fun reading your trip. I've been to both Florence and Pisa and it's fun seeing statues I took pictures with like 5 years ago. And the new tangled restaurant looks really nice, I can't wait to experience it.

As you could tell, we loved Rapunzel's.

 

[DisneyHelen]

Going to London and then Dover British Isles cruise September 2. I am looking forward to the Magic

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Going to London and then Dover British Isles cruise September 2. I am looking forward to the Magic

Have a great cruise! That is one itinerary that my DD and I really want to do, but it is always the wrong time of year. Hopefully for DD's college graduation.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 14 – Civitavecchia
Friday, July 13, 2018

Our plan today was another DCL excursion “The Best of Rome” DCL tour. I picked this particular excursion because it went to the Trevi Fountain and inside the Colosseum. It also promised a smaller group (30 people) and provided a lunch.

I have to say that after our experience in Livorno, I was a little nervous about this excursion. Our neighbors had once again opted to go to another location on a private tour as they had visited Rome before.

Our meet time at the Walt Disney Theater for our tour was at 7:15 AM so we had to get going early today. I was up at 5:45 AM, but we had already docked and there really wasn’t much to see.

We went to Cabanas for breakfast (not a lot of people there this morning that early) and made it to the Theater a little before 7:15 AM. We were given number “16.”

We exited the ship on Deck 1 and headed to our buses. The port was rather large and it took a bit to drive through it. We left the port at about 7:48 AM.

Very much like our tour to Livorno, we stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break. Fortunately, it didn’t take too long and we were on our way. Our tour guide on the bus was named Benedicta or Benny. She handed out our receivers and head sets. She would point out a few things along the way.

At about 9:30 AM we stopped at the main train station and picked up our tour guide for the day, Nadia. She would be taking us through the Colosseum and the Vatican.

Our first site was some old Roman towers from the ancient wall of the city.

An old aquaduct.

We went by one of many churches.

We were dropped off on a side street and made our way to the Piazza di Trevi where the Trevi Fountain is located. I was surprised; I always assumed that the fountain was going to be on a big piazza area, but considering how big the fountain is the piazza was relatively small just kind at the end of a street. I also thought the fountain would be more crowded, but we were able to make our way pretty close to it. It was amazing! The details on the sculptures were awesome.

We made our way to the front towards the side of the fountain to throw the coins over our shoulders, as tourists are want to do. I was disappointed that the water in the fountain was not working, as it appeared that they were cleaning the fountain. (Does that sound familiar). Oh well, at least it wasn’t covered with scaffolding. But, lo and behold, just as we were ready to leave, the water started again! Eureka!!

I wish we could have spent more time at the fountain, but we had places to be.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 14 (Continued)

We left the fountain and made our way over to the Colosseum. Wow! It was amazing! All of the sudden it was there and there were so many wonderful photo opportunities.

Nadia worked with the officials at the Colosseum and we were able to bypass the line, go through security and enter the Colosseum. DD was very happy.

The Arch of Constantine.

Back inside

Back outside

Nadia took us through the subway station to catch the escalator back up to the top.

Again, I wish we had more time here, I can barely remember anything Nadia told us about the history of the building as we were moving through pretty quickly. However, it was really awesome walking through a piece of history that old!

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 14 (Continued)

We left the Colosseum on our way to lunch.

A Fountain

Our destination was the Hotel Savoy. I loved all of the Venetian chandeliers.

We had a wonderful lunch with a pasta and lemon chicken or salmon with a lemon cake for dessert. We sat with a family of 4 and an older couple. The women from the couple also had Type 1 diabetes but she had been diagnosed about the same time DD was. They were able to have a nice conversation.

After lunch it was time to head towards the Vatican. We arrived at the Vatican Museum.

Nadia arranged for us to get our tickets so we could enter through the turnstyles.

After the new part of the museum where everybody gathered, we entered the older part through the gift shop and the old staircase..

We then stepped out into a courtyard for the show of the Sistine Chapel.

Then we climbed some stairs into the museum.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 14 (Continued)

Finally we headed down the many corridors towards the Sistine chapel. There was a corridor dedicated to sculptures, one for tapestries and the last for maps. It was just one big herd heading towards the chapel.

We finally made it to the chamber before the chapel.

Once we entered the chapel there was no photo taking allowed. However, I did catch somebody texting a photo out. Tsk tsk! Out of respect for the chapel, we were also to remain silent. However, several times the buzz got so loud that security had to yell “Silencio” a couple of times.

While the Sistine Chapel is utterly amazing, it wasn’t what I expected. I’m glad I got to see it after the many years of restoration with the brighter colors.

After the chapel, we exited towards St. Peter’s Square.

Then another corridor towards the holy doors.

Then the square.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 14 (Continued)

We then headed into St. Peter’s Basilica. I have no words. My jaw never left the ground the entire time we were in this amazingly beautiful basilica. While Westminster Abbey felt tight and cluttered, this basilica felt open and airy with its high ceilings and domes.

It was very hard to hear Nadia and we kept hearing another guide’s voice on our channel, so I just had to take my earbuds out. But I was happy just admiring the beauty.

We eventually made our way outside and saw the Swiss Guard.

We walked through St. Peter’s Square.

Nadia took us to a very nice store so that we could use the restrooms and do some shopping, but didn't make a big deal about it like in Florence. DD found some great Italian souvenirs and I purchased an ornament.

Afterwards, we got back on the bus, said goodbye to Nadia and headed back to the ship.

Benedicta pointed out some buildings back at the port.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

We got back to port and our ice cold cloths at around 6:11 PM. Again, after going through security and showing our passports, we headed directly to dinner at Lumiere’s.

I had the Marinated Shrimp

And the center cut beef.

I had the Lemon Light Cake but forgot to take a picture. I remember that it was very good.

DD and I headed down to the D lounge and caught some of “So You Think You Know Your Family.” It was pretty funny.

DD and I then headed to the 8:45 PM showing of Once Upon a Song. They don’t do this show often, but it was quite enjoyable with the cast members singing some of the more beloved Disney movie songs.

We went up to the room to this.

We had another tour tomorrow so it was an early night for us.

I have to admit that I was worried about taking another DCL tour, but I have to say that this was one of the best DCL tours I have ever been on. Our guide was very informative and she was able to get us ahead of all of the lines. I figured that I much prefer tours where we are taken into the sites rather than just walking to them, like in Florence. All and all it was a wonderful day and I fell in love with Rome. I would love to go back someday and stay for more than a day and see many more of the sites.

Next: Lemons and more Lemons!

 

[ksack]

OMG!! You’re killing me with all of the menus!! My butt had better get to the gym right now!!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

OMG!! You’re killing me with all of the menus!! My butt had better get to the gym right now!!

Would you believe that I didn't gain any weight from the cruise? I actually lost some weight!

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 15 – Naples
Saturday, July 14, 2018

Today’s plan was a private tour with Driver in Rome for Pompeii, Sorrento, Amalfi Coast and Positano. Our driver was Matteo. Matteo told us that traffic was bad today and that we had to choose between Positano and Sorrento, because we couldn’t do both with the time we had. We chose Sorrento.

Anyway, I got to sleep in this morning until 6:30 AM. Woohoo! By the time I was up, the Magic was almost docked.

Port side was to the water, so after breakfast at Cabanas I took some more pictures from the Starboard side.

Naples has a beautiful terminal with these famous horse statutes.

We got off the ship from Deck 1 and walked through the trminal.

We met Matteo outside the security gate.

We headed towards Pompeii. It was about an hour drive there. I tried to take pictures of the scenery, but it was very difficult so I won’t add a bunch of blurry photos. I’ll just say that the scenery was beautiful.

When we arrived at Pompeii, while Matteo arranged for our guide, he took us to a Cameo store. There were so many beautiful cameos. I ended up buying a bracelet for DD with Mt. Vesuvius carved in it.

I got a pendant with flowers carved in the cameo.

Matteo arranged for our guide and we paid admission to the park. She was able to take us right into a guide entrance and to an elevator for DNM. The park had recently completed a handicap accessible trail through the ruins. This would be the path we would take today.

Anise showed us some pumice from Mt. Vesuvius.

She took us to a sample of how a house may have looked.

She took us through a little museum before taking us out to the ruins. Of course, only a small portion of all the artifacts that were retrieved from Pompeii are at the National Archaeological Museum of Naples, the rest are in a warehouse somewhere, with a few of them in museum she showed us.

Plaster castings of the space they found underneath the pumice.

This fountain would have been in the main part of the house. The mosaic tile work is magnificent.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 15 (Continued)

Looking towards a hazy Mt. Vesuvius.

Inside the ruins of Pompeii.

The bath house. The walls and floors were heated.

A preserved room. With the famous “Save the Dog” tile work.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 15 (Continued)

A bakery

Another restored villa.

Some of the improvements for handicap access.

Some recovered and preserved scroll work.

After the incredible experience at Pompeii, we made our way to Sorrento.

If you look real closely, you can see some people diving off of the rocks.

Our driver recommended a place for lunch just outside the city.

This place was incredible. The owner grew a lot of her own fruit, vegetables and herbs.

We started with the local wine.

We ordered fresh basil and tomatoes

and Caprice. We had fresh bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. We also had the prosciutto and melon.

DD had the homemade gnocchi.

I had the breaded veal which was so good.

After lunch, the owner offered us Limoncello to try.

It was a bit much for my taste. DNM had homemade Lemon Sorbet which DD said was incredibly good.

To be continued . . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 15 (Continued)

Matteo then took us to A. Gargiulo & Jannuzzi. A store featuring wood Inlaid pieces and ceramics.

We spent entirely too much time here. We bought some beautiful ceramics and a hand painted fan with Disney’s Pinocchio for DD and shipped them home.

After shopping we walked around Sorrento briefly.

We found a great Gelato place hidden off of the main street.

Unfortunately, it was then time to head back to the ship.

We made it to the port at about 4:30 PM. Matteo was able to get past parking security because of the wheelchair and park closer to the terminal. There were some shops at the terminal so we bought some Lemon Candies and Chocolate covered Lemon candy. There were some really good lemon cookies that we tried as well. I also mailed a post card. At security, we saw agents taking a lot of bottles of Limoncello to be returned to passengers in Barcelona.

Mt. Vesuvius was a little clearer after we were back onboard.

Tonight was Pirate Night! We got our Pirate bandannas in our stateroom. Dinner was in Animator’s Palate. It was the drawing show tonight.

I had the Chicken Noodle Soup.

I ordered the Chicken Schnitzel for my entrée and had the Celebration Cake for dessert.

DD got this.

It was then time to see all of our drawings animated on the screen.

We went to watch ‘A Pirates Life for Me” and went up and participated in one of the games. It was a fun show.

We saw Pirates Chip and Dale.

We then went to see Capt. Hook and Smee and Pirate Minnie.

Our towel animal for the night was

We went to Family Karoake where I got the drink of the day, The Colors. It was very good.

At 10:00 we made our way up to deck 10 go watch the Pirates in the Caribbean Party.

To be continued. . .

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Day 15 (Continued)

Our own personal DCL photographer from Florence came up to take our picture!

Mickey comes to save the day.

And then the fireworks start.

After the fireworks, we made our way to Cabanas to see what was on the buffet. We had some dessert, but I just really like the decorations.

We had a great day in Naples. Our driver was able to get us a wonderful tour guide for Pompeii and we very much enjoyed the history of this ancient city. Sorrento was a beautiful town and I wish we would have had more time to explore. All in all we enjoyed our visit to the Amolfi Coast very much.

Next: Another much needed Sea Day.

 

[FSU Girl]

This is a gorgeous sight from the cruise.

Pompeii is amazing. I love going there, I've been there twice and I'm pretty sure I'll be going there again on my upcoming trip. It's amazing how this whole city was just wiped out and how preserved everything is.

This is really pretty, it gives you an idea of how it used to look like when it was a thriving city.

I love gnocci I made it last night for dinner. It's so good. Homemade food is the best.

Pirate night looked really fun. Seems like a great day!

 

[dekkerdisneydreamer]

This trip report has been a delight to read. I almost feel like I've been there. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

This is a gorgeous sight from the cruise.


Pompeii is amazing. I love going there, I've been there twice and I'm pretty sure I'll be going there again on my upcoming trip. It's amazing how this whole city was just wiped out and how preserved everything is.


This is really pretty, it gives you an idea of how it used to look like when it was a thriving city.


I love gnocci I made it last night for dinner. It's so good. Homemade food is the best.

Pirate night looked really fun. Seems like a great day!

We did have a great day. Naples was one of my favorite ports.

This trip report has been a delight to read. I almost feel like I've been there. Thank you for taking the time to write it.

Thank you for reading!

 

[#NotMyName]

Thanks for posting this report and all the photos. Looking forward to reading more.