For Palermo I decided that I wanted to do something different on this port day.  We had spent a lot of time sightseeing in Florence and Rome and we had gone to the beach in Sardinia.  I decided we should do a family cooking experience. So, off I went in search of just the right experience.  We needed something interesting for both me (the foodie) and my non-foodie hubby and of course the girls.  

We took part in a Palermo Cooking Class & Market Tour with Chef Vincenzo meeting at Porta Carini, the entrance to the Mercato del Capo. After our market tour, we walk to our cooking class kitchen with the chef at his restaurant, Ristorante Cin Cin. http://ristorantecincin.com/

When we disembarked at the port of Palermo it becomes clear that I had not thought everything through.  I thought I could easily grab a cab from the Port to the Market.  In case you are not aware - Palermo is what I would consider a tough town.  Because we don't have a car waiting for us - we leave the ship in search of a taxi.  That can't be too hard right?  Wrong.  As soon as we leave the gates of the port we are literally accosted by locals wanting to take us on tours.  They are relentless.  My husband is nervous for the girls - I am the only one in the group that speaks Italian.  I head to a cab and ask how much to take me to the Mercato del Capo.  50 Euros.  What!  In Italian I tell him he must think I am crazy.  The market is close by but not safe to walk to according to the polizia at the port.  We literally cannot find a way to the market. Hubby just wants to turn around and head back to the ship.  I try calling for a cab.  Finally, a young woman who works for a tour company takes pity on us and finds us a ride.  This ride is with a guy with a car who "she vouches for" who will take us to the market for 15 euros.  Again, a girl we don't know is vouching for a man we don't know to get us safely to the market.  Of course we go. We make it.

Chef Vincenzo takes us into the market.  We purchase fresh veggies, fruit and fish for our lunch.  We try some aranchini (fried rice balls made with risotto and cheese) yummy and my daughter's favorite, we have some bread which is not so good - too greasy.  But it is fun nonetheless.

 We head to the restaurant with all our supplies and get to work pronto.

This is a VERY hands on course.  Everyone has to cook - including my hubby!  I took pictures to memorialize the occurrence.

We make potato gnocchi, pesto fettuccini, swordfish, eggplant caponata, eggplant rolls with ricotta and breadcrumbs, ricotta casserole with pumpkin, zucchini and mint.

My 13 year old daughter had an amazing time.  Thankfully, Chef Lorenzo's daughter was there who was the same age as Gianna.  The two girls played barbie with no real language barriers.  

What an absolutely fun day.  Thankfully, chef arranges for a cab to take us back to port   

We again use a car service for our trip to Pompeii and Sorrento.but this time it is with the tour company called Joe Banana Limos. https://www.joebananalimos.net/  Our excursion is called a Kid Friendly Tour. 

Rome is definitely a city that you will want a car service for.  I can honestly say that we saw more of Rome than  humanly thought possible in 9 hours.  This was mostly because of the excellent service we received through our excursion with Papillon Service. Our driver was amazing!

http://www.papillonservice.com/ 

It takes approximately 90 minutes to drive to Rome from the port.  The car was waiting for us as we disembarked at 8 am.  Booster seat already in the car for our littlest one. 

Our first stop, St. Paul Basilica.  It is still early in Rome so we are treated to a near deserted church. 

Our next stop, the Colosseum.  Papillon had purchased our tickets for us allowing us to join the cue immediately. Thank goodness because it is already crowded.  I could only imagine what it would have been like later in the day.  I took about 30 minutes to enter the Colosseum.  The kids loved it. In hindsight, we would have gotten more out of it had we hired a guide to walk us through. There are many individuals at the entrance looking to be your guide or the service would have arranged one for us. In any event, it was great and got some great pictures.  

Now the mad dash back to our waiting driver who is in front of the Arch of Constantine and takes us to the overview of the Roman Forum where we stop and marvel at the site.  We walk around and take it all in.

Next up our driver has a very fun treat for us.  I have been to Italy many times, but I had never heard of this gem.  He drives us to a parking space where he points us to a green door.  Come, he says, take a look through the key hole.  What do we see?  The garden of the Embassy of Malta and beyond the Vatican.  So, standing on Roman soil, we peer into the country of Malta and beyond see the country of Vatican City.  How fun is that!  

We head to the Piazza Venezia and the Vittorio Emanuele Monument, down to the Spanish Steps and the Trevi Fountain. We took no chances and each of us threw a coin in the fountain guaranteeing a return visit.

Our whirlwind tour includes stops at Piazza Navona and the Pantheon.  I must tell you that Rome is sweltering in August and we relished the air conditioning of our car.  

Our driver takes us to a lovely place - away from the tourists - where we eat like Romans.  We have a lovely relaxed lunch before heading out again.  TIP:  we stop and buy some delicious wine to take aboard the ship for tonight's dinner.

Next stop Vatican City and St. Peter's Square and Basilica.  We opted not to visit the Vatican Museums which are very crowded and houses many galleries. I just didn't think the girls would be interested or up for a 2 hour tour.  We later find out that it was sweltering and crowded inside the museums so we are happy with our decision but we are a bit sad that we did not get to see Michelangelo’s masterpieces in the Sistine Chapel.   

Being on a cruise - you don't get to pick what day of the week you visit a particular city.  We visit Rome on a Wednesday which means that the Papal address is in the morning.  Be aware that on Wednesdays (except for late July and August when the Pope goes on vacation to Castel Gandolfo, and holds audiences there), the Pope holds an audience at Saint Peters in the square. Tens of thousands of people attend the papal audience and the whole area will be packed.  This also means that the Basilica is closed until the audience is over - no one can get into the Basilica until 1 pm.  All this equals one VERY very long line of people waiting to enter - in scorching heat with no shade in sight.  

This is where I offer the very best TIP of our trip.  As I have mentioned before, prior to our cruise I trolled the internet to ensure our excursions went off without a hitch.  One thing I really looked into was how to get into the Vatican / the Basilica quickly.  The Colosseum had advanced tickets, so did the Vatican museums, how about the Basilica?  Trolling on Trip Advisor Forum Boards, and every site possible, I could find nothing - until this - a skip the line entry into the Basilica with an audio tour. Jackpot!  But, was it too good to be true?  Our tour company - located in Rome - thought it was, Vatican Boards on Trip Advisor did too. My thought - if it was a scam, I would be out a bit of money - if it worked - I would be a hero.  It worked!  Like a charm - we waited no more than 15 minutes to get into St Peter's - much to our driver's surprise.  Here is the link https://www.ticketsrome.com/en/museum-reservations/st-peter-s-basilica-entrance-with-audioguide-skip-the-line.

Our last stop is for our daily gelato and we head back on our 90 minute ride to the ship exhausted and happy - we could never have seen more in the short time that we were in Rome.  The key was using the service to take us from zone to zone throughout the city all the while listening to our driver talk to us about each amazing site and the history we were seeing. 

Our summer cruise to the Mediterranean was delightful. We spent 10 nights aboard the Disney Magic for a Mediterranean cruise leaving from Barcelona.  The ship was wonderful. Getting on the ship - not even close to be acceptable!  We arrived at the cruise terminal at our appointed time.  What a mess.  The line snaked around the terminal - no shade in sight and it was HOT.  We were in line for over 45 minutes.  It did not get any better once we were in the terminal building itself. This was so disorganized and really quite unacceptable. 

We finally made it aboard but it was not a pleasant start to the voyage.

The Cabin

I thought the layout of our cabin worked great.  We had a deluxe family oceanview stateroom with verandah.  There were two separate bathrooms  (one with sink and toilet the other with sink and tub/shower).  This was very helpful when all four of us needed to get ready at once.  My youngest prefers baths and the tub was key here.  There was sufficient space for our toiletries etc. in both rooms.  Closet space was ample and the beds were raised high enough to allow our luggage to be stored underneath.  TIP:  I did use one suitcase to store dirty clothes during the trip which helped with clutter and space issues.

The in-room entertainment was okay. All Disney - all the time. I wouldn’t have expected anything less.  However, I would have loved ‘on demand’ movies.  This was something that we had on our Princess ship.  On the Princess cruise there were a couple of nights where my husband and I would drop the kids off at the Club and retreat back to the room to see a current movie together in our room.  This was not possible with Disney.  Not a huge hardship but something I noticed.  There were, however, pretty great movies in the Theatre and on Deck including Spiderman. 

The kids bunked in the living area.  This worked out fine.

The room was absolutely big enough for us to manage around.  We didn’t feel overly cramped.  On many travel boards many people complained about not having enough electrical outlets for their stuff.  I don’t know how much stuff these people are bringing with them but there was absolutely enough plugs and we have a teenager!  Seriously, what are people plugging into their outlets?  We had 3 phones, 2 ipads, and camera that needed to be juiced up.  There was never an issue. Note that there are both North American type outlets as well as the European type.  If you have a converter, you will absolutely NOT have an issue with juice.

 Dining

The food was good but not great.  I am a bit of a foodie so I was a bit disappointed but even my husband (who is not a foodie) thought the food was not as good as what we had enjoyed on our Princess cruise.  One exception was Palo. The food was VERY good.  We ate breakfast in Cabanas – the buffet option.  It was typical buffet breakfast fare.  The kids liked the Mickey Mouse waffles.  There was fruit and yogurt a plenty.  Although, I do wish we got to see some berries on the trip.  Just the same old pineapple, melon combinations over and over again.  I generally find breakfast a grab and go meal in any event.

We always ate dinner at one of the assigned dining rooms.  My philosophy is: I am on vacation; I want to be waited upon. I also hate the scene of kids and adults running around with heaping plates of food.  But, that’s just me. What I loved about Disney is that we had a table just to ourselves.  On Royal Caribbean, we were forced to eat at a table of 10 every night.  This is where I may sound a bit snobbish, but I did not enjoy this.  We had little in common with our dining mates and conversation was pleasant but not much else.  I loved being with  just my family.  This was our family vacation - a chance to be with the kids and relax and connect.  I also enjoyed the fact that dinners rotated in the 3 main dining rooms.  It added a very nice variety to our evenings.  Disney ensures that your waitstaff are with you the entire cruise.  This is also nice as they quickly learn what you like, what your drink preferences are and are very attentive.  It may not be so great if you don't hit it off with your waiters.

Of the three dining options, Carioca’s was my least favorite.  The menu was boring and the food just okay.

I loved the Animator's Palette dining room and the last night you are there is extra special.  Your drawing gets animated on the screens on the walls - so much fun! 

What really struck me was that we were sailing in the Mediterranean and yet we never had a Mediterranean themed evening.  Instead, we were offered Peruvian cuisine. When in Rome???   The meals overall were run of the mill.  Thanksgiving like turkey and stuffing dinner one night was the best of the bunch.  I never left thinking what a fabulous meal.  That is, except for Palo. 

Speaking of Palo, we did dine on our own one evening.  We weren’t sure what to do with our girls but they were a-okay with our servers.  We dropped them off at our table where our regular servers took care of them.  Mind you, our oldest was helpful to ensure our youngest was behaving and safe.  The servers knew what I liked the girls to eat and there were no hick ups there.  Then our oldest dropped the youngest off at the Kids’ Club and she went to see Thor the movie.  So, success as far as the kiddies were concerned. The one challenge of Palo is that it was all sooo good. I couldn’t decide half the time as to which appetizer or main I wanted, so the waiter brought both!  TOO MUCH FOOD. But, oh so yummy.

Tip:  if you are interested in the experience of drawing your cartoon for the animation after dinner, I suggest you not book your Palo dinner for that night.  We chose the night we docked in Sardinia.  Here is my logic on that one - Sardinia was an easy port - beach!  I knew we would not be getting on the ship late in the afternoon, nor would we be be exhausted from all the site seeing.  Had we booked our grown up dinner for the night of the Florence or even Rome day, we would have been baffed.  Just saying ...

There is one thing I must mention when it came to dining. There was never an issue for special requests.  My daughter adores broccoli (great kid right!) – so we asked for broccoli basically at every meal. NEVER an issue.  This was very unlike our experience on Royal Caribbean.  Maybe it was the ship (small & older) but nothing about dining was easy.  Asking for broccoli was like asking for gold leaf to be applied to an apple – impossible.  Truly, the wait staff told me that there could be no deviations from the menu.  WHAT???  So perhaps my expectations had been lowered because of this experience on Royal Caribbean but this is where Disney did shine.

The worst part of the dining experience on DCL had to be the coffee.  What they serve may be called coffee but brother, that is NOT coffee.  I am not even one of those Starbuck fanatics.  I like Tim Hortons, Mc Donalds etc.  But what DCL tries to pass off as coffee is not even close to Nescafe.  We experienced this brown liquid of disgustingness when we went to Disney a few years back and stayed on the Resort.  What they call coffee is liquid stuff that they add hot water to.  I did buy coffee a few times from the only coffee shop on board (way up on the deck tucked away in the adult section).  This is inconvenient.  Princess did this coffee thing right by having a true coffee shop right in the central plaza.    I did know about this going in.  I had read about the dreadful coffee on a number of cruise boards.  TIP:  So I brought some Starbucks Viva coffee packets with me.  My husband rolled his eyes at the beginning of the cruise, but brother – he was begging for packs towards the end – let me tell you!  I had some left over and happily gave them to my servers who also longed for real coffee.

TIP:  Bring a case of water with you on board the boat - you will be very happy you did.  The ship offers to sell you a case of water but it is NOT cheap.  Also, take advantage of the ability to bring a couple bottles of wine on board with you and I rder wine glasses from room service.  DCL actually allows two bottles per port which means you can be enjoying the best France, Italy and Spain has to offer - without that big markup. We often took a glass of wine into the dining room to enjoy with dinner without issue.

Entertainment

I think this is where DCL does shine.  The shows are top rate - equal to what we would pay to see off Broadway for sure.  In addition to the great shows, there are fun events like game shows, recent movies and trivia.  I can honestly say we were never bored in the evenings.  I do have one peeve.  Can you image that they charge for popcorn?  6 dollars for a small box of popcorn at the movie theater. Really?

My youngest was 5 years old at the time and loved the Kids Clubs.  My oldest was 13 years old and was hesitant at first in the club for her age group but soon found a bunch of girls to hang out with and text.  Actually this was one great thing about DCL.  On board there is proprietary wifi which allows passengers who have downloaded the app to text each other without data. We used this quite a bit to communicate with each other from different parts of the ship. 

We recently took our girls on a 10 night Mediterranean Cruise sailing from Barcelona, Spain.

As you can tell from the picture, there is a rather large age gap between the girls - 7 years to be exact.  Travelling with a young person (5 yrs old) and a teenager is both easy and hard. With this Blog I hope to detail our journeys so others can learn from our mistakes and successes.