June 26, 2014 Venice

So my brother asked what ports we were visiting on this cruise so here is a rundown:

Venice, Italy

Katakolon Greece

Piraeus, Greece

Mykonos, Greece

Rhodes, Greece

Kusadasi, Turkey

So, didn’t sleep much during the night, kept waking up thinking I was on Florida time.  I finally gave up and got up at 6 a.m. and got on my computer and started my travel blog.  Headed down for the free breakfast at the Plaza Hotel in Mestre.  Had a wicked Chocolate Croissant!  Loved it (my family can attest I have always loved chocolate).

Michael sent me a message that they had all landed safely and would be headed to the port.  So finished getting ready and the hotel summoned my driver to the port.  We left the hotel at 9:55 a.m. and arrived at the port 15 minutes later.  30 euros was the cost to get to the ship.  We rode in a Mercedes Benz van.  Olaf had never ridden in one, so he had to have a picture taken.

Walked right into the terminal and went to the Platinum check-in.  Michael, Keith and Rusty had just arrived too.  It was very organized and all went well.  Got to board the ship at 11:45 a.m. and the atrium welcomed us with two ice sculptures for the journey ahead:

Michael needed his Fish Extender gifts delivered, so I took deck 2 and ran around putting the packages in the rooms.  They included a party packet of streamers, venetian glasses that flash on and off in the dark, some stickers, door magnets and the lanyard.  Thanks Michael for the gifts!

Then we headed up to Cabanas for lunch.  Not too busy yet, guess people were out exploring in Venice.  After lunch I returned to my room and my luggage had already arrived, so I started unpacking and then decided to deliver my fish extender gifts.  I finished right before lifeboat drill.  So my job was done.  I’ll have to take a picture of my stateroom door so everyone can see my magnets.

After lifeboat drill, we headed up to sailaway.  Ran into George from DCL who is the Vice President of Communications.  He was on last cruise and this one and then headed back to Florida.  He comes a lot when there are new ports on the itineraries for the inaugural cruises.

Michael decided Olaf needed to be in his sailaway gear to truly experience a Michael Kuzma sailaway party so he got all decked out:

Mickey and the gang showed up just in time for sailaway.  But due to the noise restrictions in Venice, Captain Robert was unable to play the Mickey horn.  Probably will have to wait to noon tomorrow for the update from the bridge.

Then it was time to sail away!  Michael, Keith, Rusty and myself were joined by Maroly from the cruise staff .  She fit right in with all our fun!

It was then time to sail by St. Mark’s Square and leave Venice:

We then headed to the Walt Disney Theater for the first night show.  Ventriloquist Taylor Mason is on board. We haven’t seen him for years and was excited to see him on the schedule today.  Tonight he brought Paco the Pig, Romeo and Simon on stage with him.  He is very good.  If you haven’t seen him, make sure you do when you are on the ship and he is on.  Also, this is for my daughter Jamie:  Emma and Gina are on board and saw them tonight in the opening show.  Emma is now one of the main performers in the shows!  I will track them down.  Tomorrow is Villians Tonight, can’t wait to see Gina as one of Cinderella’s step sisters.  She is the best!  We will also see her later in the week as Ann Marie in Disney Dreams!  Excited to see them for 30 days.  Also heard Anna and Elsa are on board, so will definitely get pictures of Anna and post for Jamie so she can see her “friend”.

We then stopped to shop for our official Greek merchandise.  Found a couple of things I liked for myself and Jamie so I put them on hold.  Will have to go back and look for something for Jamie’s husband, Quentin.  He has never sailed before and is just starting to enjoy all Disney has to offer.  They will be visiting me in August in Florida and he will be going on this first Disney cruise!

After shopping, I headed down to finish unpacking and get ready for dinner.  Now, for some reason, the on demand movies have disappeared from the television.  I am going to have to check it out.  It may have something to do with the 12 new Spanish channels they added to the television.

Also, on the Disney Wonder I believe, they are offering 50 free MB on the first day of the cruise for the internet.  Not here on the Magic.  I bought a 300 MB package for $39.99.  Will know after I post this how much space I use.  I am typing my trip reports in Word, and then will copy and paste once I am on the internet, so will see how that goes.

We headed to dinner for the first night to Animator’s Palatte. We are at Table 67:

 I had my favorite soup, Butternut Squash.  Shari can attest to this being my favorite soup.  I guess when I was in the recovery room after my emergency gallbladder surgery I kept asking Esther (who was our server on the cruise we had just gotten off hours earlier) to bring me Butternut Squash Soup.

We also kept up the tradition of getting children’s menus so we can play word games while waiting for our dinner to come.  Rusty won tonight.  The children’s menu had a chocolate bread pudding on it and we got one and all shared.  It was delicious.  For my main course I had Salmon and steamed vegetables and I had my special salad (lettuce, avocados and tomatoes) with Raspberry Vingarette on the side.

For dessert I had the Cookies and Cream Ice Cream:

For those used to dinner times at 5:45 and 8:15, they have been changed for the Med Cruise.  Dinner is at 6:15 or 8:45.  We are on the 8:45 dinner.

After dinner, Mickey came by during the show:

We then headed to Fathom’s the adult nightclub to watch Disney Quest and Match Your Mate.  Michael and I kept dozing off and I think Keith took a picture cuz the flash from the camera caught my attention.   

We finally decided to call it a night at 11:40 p.m.  However, we lose an hour tonight so it was really 12:40 a.m. on June 2th.  The only time change on the cruise I’m told.  So we are now 7 hours difference from Florida (eastern time zone) and for my family in Utah and Idaho 9 hours difference.

Tomorrow is a sea day.  Hopefully we will all sleep well tonight and have a beautiful sea day.  

Hope you are enjoying the journeys of Linda and Olaf!