Wherein We Answer the Question: Does a Six Year Old Find the Med Magical? - COMPLETE!

Playing catch up with your report! Amazing photos......so much rich, beautiful history in all of these ports!!!
 
Pantheon, St Ignatius, and Trevi Fountain

Next we headed to the Pantheon. This is a free attraction so plan on crowds.

Outside of the Pantheon was the first obelisk I saw.

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These were craved with lots of beautiful hieroglyphics.

Then we headed in the Pantheon.

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Inside is the tomb of Raphael as well as a dome that is open at the top. The dome was meant to be a sundial, but you can see where all the original paintings were removed by the Catholic Church because they weren't Christian.

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There are lots of signs inside asking for quiet because church services were going on. People did not respect them though. When we finished, we headed to a coffee shop to grab espressos and use the bathroom.

Next we headed to St Ignatius church. My dad had never been here which is shocking since he loves churches. Then again, there are soooo many churches it's probably impossible to see them all.

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Enrico told us to pay special attention to the ceiling and the dome. Well, photos don't do the ceiling justice. It was amazing! So realistic. You couldn't tell where the architecture ended and the painting began.

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Check out the dome too. It's crooked!












But wait. It's not! It's a flat ceiling and the dome is just paint. What?!?

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This was another truly amazing thing we saw today that I am 100% certain we would have missed on the DCL trip.

As we drove to the Trevi Fountain, we passed Trajan's Column showing his battle victories. Amazing.

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Then it was on to the Trevi Fountain. Remember when I said the Pantheon was crowded? I take it back. It was pleasant and spaced out. The Trevi Fountain was packed!

Nevertheless, I walked down and tossed in my coin. Over my shoulder of course for good luck.

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Clearly we weren't going to stay there for long so we walked back to meet Ignacio and hopefully find something delicious and calm for lunch.

As we drove away, I saw this sign. What does it mean? I still don't know but it makes me smile.

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Next Up: Trestevare and Lunch
 
Enjoying your TR!

As to the sign, I just saw a news report on the artist who does these....he is adding vinyl cutouts to existing, legitimate “do not enter” signs. I saw the report within the last week or so but I don’t remember which news organization did it. Very clever stuff.
 
As we drove away, I saw this sign. What does it mean? I still don't know but it makes me smile.

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Next Up: Trestevare and Lunch

They had these signs in Florence. There's this French artist named Clet that puts these humorous stickers on ordinary traffic and street signs. Our guide told us that the cities eventually sell the signs on ebay for money instead of constantly citing the artist.
 


Trestevare, Lunch, and Catacombs

We drove to Trestevare for lunch. It's a neighborhood on the west side of the Tiber. It's known for being an artist area of Rome.

The restaurant our guide took us to was super cute and had a great patio.

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More daytime wine.

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Traditional pasta.

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The special with lots of mushrooms.

We did not "eat like Romans." Instead, we just had prosciutto and pasta. It was delicious!

After lunch, we headed to Basilica di Santa Maria. This was another less well known church that has amazing Byzantine mosaics.

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Outside.

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The covered area outside the church is filled with carved stones from various Roman tombs and monuments. It's very interesting but also sad to know they were stolen.

Inside, the maosaics are truly stunning.

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As we walked back to the car, we passed the perfect Italian alleyway.

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We then decided to drive to the Catacombs. By this point, we were a bit tired and it was getting hot. The Catacombs sounded interesting and we knew they'd be cool.

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Enrico got us there about 10 minutes before the next tour. It was the perfect amount of time for him to get out tickets and for my dad to use the restroom.

Because the Catacombs are tombs, no photography is allowed. They were very interesting though and there were several chapels inside the Catacombs as well. The Catacombs are several floors, but only the second floor is open for tours. There are legends that Christians used to hide in the Catacombs to avoid persecution but that didn't actually happen.

Overall, it was an interesting thing to see. If you're at all claustrophobic, you should be aware that there are very tight spaces and passageways. It's also very dark. DD would not have done well here. I have no issues with small spaces, but even I was ready for the sunlight by the time we finished.

Next Up: Gelato, Back to the Ship, and what happened while we were gone
 
Wonderful trip report! I’m enjoying this so much! We are headed for this cruise next summer after DD graduates from high school.
 
Gelato, Back at the Ship, and What Happened While We Were Gone

After the Catacombs we were getting tired. Plus we both wanted some good gelato. Enrico drove us to Piazza Novena so we could see the fountains and eat some great gelato.

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So beautiful!

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Delicious!

It was getting to be time to head back to the ship. Enrico offered to drive us by St Peter's square, but we'd had enough crowds for the day. We stopped at a grocery store for wine. Enrico suggested a couple varieties and dad ran in for them. Wine is so reasonable in Europe!

Confession time: I fell asleep on the way back to the ship. My dad and Enrico teased me a bit about that. Haha!

As we pulled in to the port, I saw these themed boats.

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These are the ferries. Fun!

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And we arrived back. It was about 5:00. Enrico would have felt comfortable if we stayed in Rome a bit longer, but we wanted to be back in time for showers, evening activities, and dinner. While we knew the organization would pay for us to get to the ship at the next port, we wanted to be comfortable with timing.

Once on board, we met up with my mom and daughter and heard about their day. Mom said they were literally almost the only people on board. She said it was almost creepy.

They swam, DD went to the clubs, they saw characters with no lines whatsoever. And apparently DD was already well known among the photographers because they were already saying hello to her by name as she approached.

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Breakfast in cabanas also included napkin hats and magic tricks since they were the only people there.

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So many characters!

These Aida ships were also.docked next to us at most ports.

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So funny.

I had requested that our rotation have Lumiere's tonight. I just wasn't sure how tired we would be. I also didn't write down what show we saw or if we took the evening off. We did make it to dinner though. MANY seats were empty but the meal was good. I had curry. Yum.

Then it was straight to bed. The next day was Pisa so DD would have to be up early.

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So these were my Fitbit stats for the day and this was with a car driving us from place to place! I can't imagine what the number would have been if we were truly walking Rome.

Next Up: Heading to Pisa
 


Pisa

Today was our only DCL excursion. Actually, this day was one we went back and forth on several times.

Initially, we had talked about my parents going to Florence and DD and I hanging out in Livorno. There were several things in town that I thought would be interesting including a tour by boat. DH and I had been to Florence for our honeymoon, so I was interested to explore a new city. None of the adults were interested in going to Pisa again. When we went before we just found it crowded and super touristy. Plus, we had all said "huh, it really leans" already. :rolleyes1:laughing:

In the spring, DD's class studied Italy. In fact, the father of one of her classmates is actually from Italy! So, in the course of that study, she watched a video on the Leaning Tower and she asked to go. Well, when you're in the neighborhood, it seems ridiculous not to go. So we looked at options and I saw a great vlog from a med cruise last year of a young woman who took the Pisa excursion. (That's really what it's called: Pisa. No fun adjectives here!) The price was right and we knew it would be super easy. DD was not old enough (minimum age of 8) to climb so that was not a consideration.

Well now my parents had seen all the research I had done on Livorno and they decided that THEY would explore the town while DD and I went to Pisa. Well, ok!

The departure time for the excursion was 8:30. While this is not incredibly early, DD was definitely in vacation mode so she struggled a bit.

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Here she is explaining to me that it is way too early for vacation. To be fair, I was tired too. For the first time ever, I could hear our neighbors and what I could hear was their alarm clock starting at 6:00. They hit snooze/ignored it for a looong time.

We had breakfast in Cabanas today. (See, I learned from my mistake in Pompeii!) Then we grabbed our tickets and headed to the Walt Disney Theater. We were offered ponchos but we had our good raincoats already.

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DCL had contracted with Trumpy tours for this excursion.

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When we boarded the bus, there were maps and headsets on each seat. Our bus guide made sure to test the headsets before we got off. She also did a great job of telling us about the area while we drove the 40 minutes. DD got a little nap in on the way. The sky was ominous

There is about a 10 minute walk from where the bus parks to the Square of Miracles. Right before entering the square, we stopped at a place where there were free toilets for those who needed them. Sadly, lots of people needed them. (This is one of those things that makes private tours appealing: I'm not on anyone else's bathroom schedule.)

While we waited, we saw the little tourist train drive by.

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A family in our cruise group did the tour that included this, but they were very disappointed in their experience. I had been tempted but I'm glad I didn't choose this option.

After just another couple minutes of walking, we arrived in the square and met our guide who would take us around the actual site.

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Our site guide was awesome. She was from Pisa and not only knew a lot about the area but obviously took a lot of pride in the structures. She explained that the buildings represent birth, life, and death and that all the buildings lean. Pisa used to have canals like Venice and that soggy soil is what makes the buildings lean. (Pompeii also used to be a seaside town.) The tower itself is just a bell tower but is obviously the most famous. The tower has 7 bells, but now it uses a recording. This is for two reasons. First, the vibrations would further destabilize the tower. Second, no one wants to run up and down to ring the bells! Haha!

Our first stop was the baptistry (birth.) The accoustics in here are perfect and our tour was timed so that we are inside when the singers came in to demonstrate. What a remarkable thing to hear! If you don't have a trip planned, here is a YouTube that shows how amazing the sound is.


Next we headed to the church (life.)

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The church is set up to allow for separate seating of men and women. When it was originally constructed, the area was very diverse and it was used for Christian, Jewish, and Muslim services so some groups had the need to separate the congregation.

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The mosaics inside were amazing. It was also the festival that celebrated the patron saint of Pisa. The saint was on display and it was very cool that we were there at that time.

We then walked out of the church we were by the tower but not the best view. We headed to our meeting spot and given about 45 minutes of free time. First , we headed back to the tower to take photos from the "good side." I think some people also went to see the graveyard (death.)

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DD and I took our own and we also met up with the ship photographer. (That was one advantage of doing the tour through DCL.)

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After we took pictures, we headed to a cafe for Gelato, wine, and bathrooms. The prices were a bit high but not outrageous.

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The bathrooms carry a fee but it is waived for cruise passengers. Ship passengers also get a discount in the shop. At least 1 maybe 2 more cruise groups arrived while we were eating our snack.

After our snack, we met up with the tour (everyone was on time) and we walked back. During the walk, the skies went from ominous to a torrential downpour. Luckily, we had our good raincoats. I will say that the walk back was quite a bit quicker. :)

The drive back was fine and we all had bottled water on the bus. Our bus tour guide taught DD some Italian while we drove. It was very fun. Less than an hour later we were back in time for lunch!

This tour was perfect for us. DD got to see the things she was learning about in school and I actually got to see and learn about some things I didn't before. The whole thing was easy. The timing was also great. DD stayed engaged the whole time, and we definitely did not need more time on our own.

Next Up: Pirate Night
 
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Pirate Night

After we reboarded, we grabbed lunch at Cabanas. I do really enjoy the buffet and all the choices.

After lunch we headed to the pool.

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Oh no! There are three other people! Haha.

While we were swimming, my parents came back from Livorno. They had enjoyed exploring the town and had a nice lunch.

When DD went to take her nap, I headed to the pub to update my travel journal. The World Cup was also starting so plenty of people were in watching the game.

After she had rested and I was finished journaling, it was time to get ready for pirate night! We all had parrots on our shoulders this year.

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Our first characters were Hook and Smee.

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Then Minnie.

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Yes, the skirt is made out of bandanas. My mom is amazing!

Then our family favorite, Stitch!

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We had dinner in Animators for the animation. DD was very disappointed because her character was only on screen for a brief second. I've never seen the show be so unequal before. Oh well.

We enjoyed the pirate show with fireworks and headed off to bed.

Next up: Cannes
 
Cannes

We had no plans today. Hooray!!!!

We decided to sleep in and wait until the scheduled open tender time. We were all awake by about 8:30 and we headed to Cabanas for breakfast. Actually, I think my parents went to the dining room.

By about 10, we headed down to the tender lobby. I'd only done the tenders one other time (in Grand Cayman) but I found the walkway much less steady here. My mom struggled a bit.

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But what a view!

Our goals for Cannes were to buy French wine, have a pastry, and hang out on the beach. We'd considered getting a day pass, but decided to take our chances on the public beach instead.

Arriving in Cannes, we saw this beautiful mural.

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Our first stop was the wine shop. Port shopping had been no help, but my dad got a great recommendation from guest services.

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I wish I could shop here every week. Great selection and great prices.

We also passed a linen shop that did monogramming on site. I'm a sucker for monograms/personalization. I bought my souvenir here: an awesome beach towel/blanket with my name embroidered and Cannes.

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Then we started walking towards the marketplace.

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Passed this parrot. It's a local realtor's pet.

We landed at a cafe across from the market. Also sitting there was an Italian couple living in France. They were so excited to hear us talking. Apparently both had gone to school in the US and enjoy getting to chat with Americans. They said there have been fewer American tourists lately so we chatted for a while.

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The pastries were amazing. We ended up getting an extra croissant because they were so great. Sorry DCL, yours just don't compare.

Then it was off to the beach!

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This was such a great decision! The public beach is small but the sand is great and we had a great time. DD loved swimming in the ocean with my dad and mom and I enjoyed getting to relax and chat. We stayed about 2 hours because, sunscreen or not, we are fair skinned folk who are prone to burning.

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DD looked through her rock collection to decide which one would come home.

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She picked the brown one with the raised C shape.

Then we used the showers to get rid of the sand and headed back to the tender.

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We grabbed lunch on deck and headed back to the stateroom to rest.

Next Up: BBB and Rapunzel's
 
Your photos are amazing but mostly I'm jealous of all the amazing food (and wine!!!) you have been consuming :rotfl2:

I LOVE the skirt made out of bandana's for your DD, what a fantastic idea!!!! Where did you get the pirate on the shoulder for pirate night? Another unique idea :)
 
I love all your pictures! Your day in Rome seemed so fun. We actually just switched our honeymoon cruise again and we are now doing Italy and Greek Isles cruise so I'll be going to all these places soon!
 
BBB and Rapunzel's

But first, a word of warning!

Before going to BBB, we needed to shower and decided to have snacks on my parent's verandah. Well, let me just tell you, seagulls are just as smart about food sources around cruise ships as they are on beaches. There were 2-3 who were determined to get our All Hands On Deck!

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And now, back to the show.

This was DD's second trip to BBB. The first time we just did the makeover. For this trip though, we had given her a gift card for her birthday and she upgraded to getting a dress and accessories. She loved trying on all the dresses in the dressing room!

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I was surprised, but she chose Rapunzel. Very cool since we had dinner in Rapunzel's tonight.

Our fairy was great and DD chose the bun hairstyle. Unlike last time, they now use one of those donuts to make the bun instead of the tiny top knot. This was so much better and used way less gel.

When the fairy heard this was a birthday present, she went to get a surprise.

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No peeking!

The big reveal was awesome and DD was so happy.

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Then we headed to the atrium to see if we could find some characters.

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Posing with Helmsman Mickey.

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We also ran into Cinderella. DD was very polite and said thank you for the necklace.

Then it was off to dinner! I was hoping we'd make it through the whole meal this time.

Tonight was lantern night. Luckily one of the performers helped us figure out how to put it together.

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This guy was hilarious. Best part of the experience.

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The princess herself was so impressed with DD's outfit. As luck would have it, our table was right where the dancing started so DD got to hold hands with Rapunzel through the whole dance in the dining room. It was awesome!

During dinner, the servers had also told DD she could draw on the tablecloth. Look at this!

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I think she did a great job.

The table next to us had one of the couples who got married on board. Tonight the chef brought them chocolate covered strawberries and they shared with our table. Yum!

After dinner it was time for something we'd never done: a PremEAR at Sea!

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I took this picture as we left. Before hand the theater performers were out acting like paparazzi and autograph seekers. It was very cute. They even remembered DD the next day!

We enjoyed the movie but it was definitely time to go to bed after the show.

Next Up: Princesses, Palo, and Packing
 
Your photos are amazing but mostly I'm jealous of all the amazing food (and wine!!!) you have been consuming :rotfl2:

I LOVE the skirt made out of bandana's for your DD, what a fantastic idea!!!! Where did you get the pirate on the shoulder for pirate night? Another unique idea :)
I got the parrots on clearance after Halloween. They were like $1.50 each.

Funny story about food and wine. The other night someone invited us out to an "authentic" tapas restaurant. Let's just say this would have been a better place to eat BEFORE going to Barcelona. It was no comparison.
 
When DD went to take her nap, I headed to the pub to update my travel journal. The World Cup was also starting so plenty of people were in watching the game.

We ended up in Europe during a World Cup once. Had no idea until we were already there. It was insane! In a good way. I mean, the tournament was in Asia that year but the cities were all in regardless.
 
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This guy was hilarious. Best part of the experience.
OMG this mustache is hilarious.

The table next to us had one of the couples who got married on board. Tonight the chef brought them chocolate covered strawberries and they shared with our table. Yum!
Aw that's so sweet. How fun to get married on a cruise ship!

After dinner it was time for something we'd never done: a PremEAR at Sea!
PremEar at Sea are really fun. I've only been on two Disney cruises, but both had a PremEar and they were really fun to attend.
 
Love your shore excursions and such cute experiences with your daughter! I think it's cool that she specifically asked to go to Pisa!
 
Princesses, Palo, and Packing

::tear::

It was our last day on board. We had a few things scheduled in the morning, but the rest of the day was intentionally unscheduled. I'm noticing that I always seem to take the fewest pictures on the last day of the cruise and this day was no exception.

First up was the Princess Gathering and Frozen meet. Because I was going to Palo brunch later, we just ordered room service. I had fruit and coffee to tide me over and DD had cereal and fruit. Then it was off to the atrium!

Our princesses were Cinderella, Tiana, Belle, and Rapunzel. They were all great but our favorite on this trip was Rapunzel. She was so great and really embodied that bold personality you think of with Rapunzel. She also did really great in the dinner shows. It was so fun to see her recognize DD from the night before.

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Then we headed to Animator's for our Frozen meet.

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Strange lighting as always.

Then we had a bit of time before our brunch reservations. Sadly, I needed to go to the medical center. I was sure I had a little infection and I needed antibiotics. I considered trying to wait until I got home, but I was worried about the flight home. So off I went while my parents hung out with DD then dropped her at the clubs.

Technically I was first in line at the health center, but the nurse there asked me if minded if the doctor did an exam on a little girl with a hurt leg before he came to see me. Of course not! She gave me a bottle of water to drink while I waited and just a few minutes later the doctor arrived. He confirmed the infection and gave me antibiotics. Total cost was less than $200 and most of that was a the visit fee. I was very impressed with the medical facility and the care I received.

I finished in the health center about 10 minutes after our Palo reservation. My parents were already there but they said the server was not upset and to come ahead.

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Ahhhhh. I love this hallway so much. My parents had a lovely table when I arrived and they hadn't started eating yet. Our server, Mehmet, was amazing! He showed us around the buffet as usual and brought our early cocktails. In addition, he offered the grape pizza! My parents had never had it and they really enjoyed it. What a treat!

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I'll note that the weather this day was quite bad. Cold, rainy, and pretty rough seas. The captain called this a Mistral and it is apparently pretty common in the area.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mistral_(wind)

The wait staff at Palo were carrying lots of plates for people because it was honestly a bit hard to walk. The food was amazing as usual and our service was outstanding. I have been a bit more impressed with Palo on the classic ships than the Dream class in terms of service and ambiance.

After brunch I picked up DD and we saw a couple more characters. She hadn't seen Daisy yet, so that was a priority.

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We also had a great interaction with Ariel. So silly.

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Then it was time to start packing. Always so sad.

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Goodbye door.

DD took a short nap and then we all went up to the pool deck for a while. It was still too cool to swim but the seas had calmed and we enjoyed being outside.

Dinner was in Lumiere's. Our servers were great as usual. Our head server was literally nowhere to be found though. We looked for him all night to give him his envelope. Well, we had already decided to not give extra and this pretty much confirmed that. Honestly, he was pretty disappointing. Most nights we didn't see him and he'd done nothing to help the speed of service on night one. Oh well.

We put our last few items in our bags and then went to see the goodbye show. Darren didn't even speak at it. Another disappointment in terms of staffing.

The show was fun and bittersweet as always.

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Then it was off to bed before we had to debark the next day.

Next Up: Debarkation and Travel Home
 
I'm trying the Palo brunch for the first time in January on the Fantasy. I can't wait. That's too bad about the bad weather, since it has such nice views at the top of the ship. At least it calmed down before the end of the day.

The last day is always a little bittersweet since you know you have to get off the ship the next day.
 

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