Cruisin' the Mediterranean!

We boarded the Royal Caribbean Navigator of the Seas in Civitavecchia (just outside of Rome) and set off on a 6 night long adventure! Boarding was easy as pie and, as the ship sailed off, I realized this was the kind of vacation I could get used to! ( : All you can eat buffets, waiters performing magic tricks, nightly shows and entertainment, a casino on board and a kids club where Riley could drop in and play whenever she wanted. Heaven!

We are having some trouble uploading pictures but we did create a Photobook of Our Trip! that you can view by clicking the link.

The boat stopped first in Livorno, Italy, about 90 minutes outside of Florence. While Florence is supposed to be amazing, the tours were all about 9 hours and we thought it was a bit much for the girls. Instead, we took a half day trip to Pisa, which was much closer. Riley was very excited to try out the ship's Kids Club so she stayed onboard while Grammy, Pop Pop, Wayne, Lyla and I visited the Leaning Tower and enjoyed a nice coffee and cannoli. Yum!

It was definitely leaning!

Pop Pop being a tourist!

So cute!

Day #2 meant a stop in Genoa, Italy (the birthplace of Christopher Columbus). We skipped the ship's official excursions (thanks to the advice of Rick Steves!) and instead took a taxi to the Old Port for a little shopping and exploring ! The weather was yucky but we enjoyed checking out the San Lorenzo Cathedral, a very cool zebra striped church. The church was closed until later that afternoon but Wayne was able to sneak inside for a quick picture on the cell phone. What a rebel!

Wayne sampling the local cuisine

Day #3 was meant to be a stop in Nice, France but there was a big storm and the Captain decided to stay at sea. We felt a bit of rocking at sea but didn't realize what a big storm it was...luckily the ship was so big that it was barely affected! There was a bit of insanity when they first decided to spend the day at sea and turned the ship though...Wayne and I were in the cafe and all of the plates fell to the floor and the Ben & Jerry's display fell, spilling sprinkles everywhere! Pop Pop was outside on the deck and the pool actually emptied and chased all of the smokers back inside. Oops!

By Day #4 the storm had passed and we were able to dock in Toulon, France. We decided to do a half day excursion to Aix-en-Provence, an amazing little town with outdoor markets, cute shops and lovely cafes. I definitely want to go back....girls weekend, perhaps?

Taking pictures with her walking tour headset...

Day #5 was a day at sea and we enjoyed some rock climbing, "sunbathing" (it was much too cold for real sunbathing, although there were some crazy people swimming!), Bingo, and shows.

Bathing beauty

Rock climber extraordinaire!

Day #6 was basically disembarking and then it was 24 hours in Barcelona...stay tuned for a separate Barcelona post!

A cruise was truly a great way to see lots of places without having to move to different hotel rooms. I would definitely do one again, although I think having adjoining rooms with my parents definitely helped alot and we would have been pretty cramped in one room with both girls. If we were to do it again, Lyla would be old enough to enjoy the Kids Club and to forego the pack and play, which would definitely make the cruise even more appealing. Not having to think and plan every moment's activities was very nice and the ship's excursions, while expensive, proved easy and not terribly stressful, even though we were often the only family with kids. Lyla definitely made the Aix-en-Provence trip a bit difficult....guided walking tours are not easy with two year olds! We feel very lucky to have been able to take such an amazing trip and build some very special memories...this is why we moved to Europe afterall!