The Seas are full of WONDER and waves! Our first Disney Cruise - 7-night Eastern Caribbean; Feb 2018

I loved everyone's pirate costumes! Dinner looked really yummy!

How fun to see a movie in the Walt Disney Theater! Incredibles 2 opens when we are on our Cruise next month, and hoping for the same!
 
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The slide looks fun! Did you all try it? I know on the other boats - the Aquaduck is always so popular and busy and the wait is usually very long.

Yum that looks delicious!


Such a nice photo


This is so cool! What a fun character interaction!


Such a unique character meet for Disney fans! Also - love all the outfits.

Dinner looked delicious - glad you all enjoyed. Sorry about the fireworks though

They were showing this first showing of Black Panther in the Walt Disney theater rather than movie theater and it was pretty full. It was a ton of fun to get to see this for the first time, on a Cruise Ship, in a full theater with a ton of other Disney fans. The crowd was really into it and made for an even better viewing experience. I really like the movie and am super glad we decided to do this

Fun! Glad you all enjoyed the movie. I am not a huge superhero movie fan but I saw BP and enjoyed it! Seeing a new Disney movie in a theater full of Disney fans sounds like a very fun experience.
 
Pirate night looks like a ton of fun! Sucks the fireworks were cancelled but it still looks like you had a great time despite that.

Seeing a Disney or Marvel movie on the ship for the first time would be an awesome experience.

We definitely had fun with the meet and greets for Pirate night and the dinner - fortunately they rescheduled the fireworks for another night ... although I still didn't quite get to see them (but that is a story for another update)

It is sort of funny but once I realized that Black Panther would just be coming out, getting to see it while on board was one of the things I was most looking forward to - so I am really glad it worked out and it was a lot of fun!


Great update! Looks like you all had a fun time at the pool and also with the pirate meet and greets. Your kids are adorable and I love how you were all dressed up for pirate night. Sorry you didn't get the fireworks (I like them but they are small compared to the ones at WDW). And what a fun way to see the Black Panther!

We did have a lot of fun that afternoon - definitely worked out and was a very "Disney" time with the characters and stuff. Thank you! We knew we wanted to do something for Pirate night but not go crazy - there were a few guests that were in like professional looking pirate outfits that were super impressive!

The were able to reschedule the fireworks for another night, so that was good (though I had some other challenges that night - more in a future update!)

Definitely a fun way to see the premiere of a Disney movie!



She has so much personality! So much fun.

Looks like you guys had a great pirate night even though there were no fireworks. We just watched Black Panther over the weekend and it was really good. I've only seen a few of the Marvel films so I don't have much to compare it to.

Emma definitely does not lack for personality! I guess being the third she feels she has to stand out some ;)

We enjoyed the pirate festivities that we were able to to. I really liked Black Panther (I haven't seen all of the Marvel movies but of the ones I have seen it is one of my favorites - it is just a really solid movie and the villain has some depth to him (unlike a lot of the other Marvel films)
 
I loved everyone's pirate costumes! Dinner looked really yummy!

How fun to see a movie in the Walt Disney Theater! Incredibles 2 opens when we are on our Cruise next month, and hoping for the same!

Thank you! I think we wound up doing pretty good with our pirate outfits ... we definitely wanted to participate but also didn't have it in us to go as full out as we saw some guests do - some costumes were really impressive!

That's awesome that the Incredibles 2will open while you are on your cruise - definitely make time to see it, ideally the first showing of it they have - it was so much fun!


The slide looks fun! Did you all try it? I know on the other boats - the Aquaduck is always so popular and busy and the wait is usually very long.

Yum that looks delicious!

Such a nice photo

This is so cool! What a fun character interaction!

Such a unique character meet for Disney fans! Also - love all the outfits.

Dinner looked delicious - glad you all enjoyed. Sorry about the fireworks though

Fun! Glad you all enjoyed the movie. I am not a huge superhero movie fan but I saw BP and enjoyed it! Seeing a new Disney movie in a theater full of Disney fans sounds like a very fun experience.

We did do the slide a few times - well, not my mom or Emma (who was too small) but the rest of us did. We tried to time it for when the line wasn't crazy long - I think each time we had like a 15 min wait, so not too bad. It is a really solid and fun slide - not mind blowing or anything but definitely a fun ride!

Drinks were definitely good (though the first margarita I got Olivia knocked over - but I did get another so it was all good!)

I hadn't really seen when Goofy first spotted Hook so was a bit caught off guard when he like dove behind the piano :rotfl2:

Glad you enjoyed Black panther - I think it is just a really well made film with a rather compelling villain so I don't think you need to be a superfanbuy or anything to enjoy it - definitely was fun to see it in the theater on the cruise!
 


*** Intermission ***

So having finished Day 5 I thought now would be a good time for the intermission and to cover the Viking DIS Cruise Around Italy.

I am targeting to cover this in three updates:
- This first one will cover the background of the cruise and how it came to be and then also the travel over to Italy and our time in Rome before the cruise itself.
- Second will cover the actual physical Viking Ship itself, including dining on the ship
- Third will cover the ports of call and the excursions we took

I will then cover my thoughts on this cruise compared to the Disney one.

As these updates would be huge if I included all the individual photos I took I decided to make up collages of photos instead ... if there is anything you spot that you would like to see more of / can't fully make out in the collage, let me know and I am happy to post the full picture

Sound good?


Part A) Introduction and Time In Rome

For those of you that have no idea what I am talking about, the DIS Unplugged Team had organized a trip to Italy which would be focused on a Viking Ocean Cruise that would sail around Italy - they call it their Italy Sojourn - starting in Rome and ending Venice. They first announced it last year and when I first heard about it I thought it sounded really cool. I had recalled the trip report that @khertz had written about her ABD trip she had taken with the DIS team to Italy and how much fun it was so when they announced this one I thought it would be really neat to join - and I mentioned it to Judi and she agreed. Of course we felt there was no way we could actually do it - but then when I saw the specific dates it was for the week before Easter (specifically the cruise was from Saturday March 24 - 31) - which is when our kids typically have off from school for Spring Break. Keeping this in mind, Judi called her parents to see if they could watch the kids that week and they agreed. Knowing this year was our 15th anniversary we thought this trip would be a great way to celebrate that.

... so within about 8 hours we went from thinking there was no way we we could ever do this to having it booked! I messaged @khertz afterward to let her know we booked and I think they went through a similar thought process and ultimate booked the trip as well - she is doing a full on trip report and if you would want to follow it, here is the link to it: "Are these underwear yours?" DIS Viking Italian Sojourn 2018 TR

When we signed up I believe we were like numbers 30 and 31 to join which was already pretty big group for one of these DIS organized trips ... well, in the end the final count for our group was 103 people - bar far the largest group Viking as ever had, and one that represented about 11% of the entire ship!

Among our group was also a number of uber planners - which Viking was not really used to and created some issues that I'll get to later - but it became fun for everyone to share ideas for excursions and things to do in Rome beforehand, etc. - and enabled for a number of really cool things to get organized. We formed a Facebook group and was just fun to get to *know* a number of people before actually getting to Rome.

As for our travel details, while we would have loved to spend a ton of time in Rome beforehand and in Venice after, we just knew that wasn't possible. Obviously only so long we could leave the kids and also just money wise as this wasn't a trip we had budgeted for really. The actually Viking cruise itself I thought was very reasonably priced, but once you add on flights and then hotels and food and tours for pre- and post- days it can add up. We did want to take advantage of being in there so we settled on leaving on Thursday, March 22nd evening which got us arriving on Friday, March 23rd. This would give us the rest of Friday and then Saturday morning to see Rome. We spent a lot of time looking for flights and trying to decide when to buy, etc. Obviously flights can get expensive and there just weren't a lot of direct flights for those dates - in the end we settled on flying AerLingus that went through Dublin (but short layovers both ways) and we got it for $464/person round trip (plus tax/fees) which we thought was pretty good.

We actually had made plans with a few DISers who were also connecting through Dublin and then on our leg from Dublin to Rome to meet up and then share a car from the airport to the hotel in Rome (many of us were staying at the Berlini Bristol). Our room was ready and we relaxed for a bit but then went out to explore and get some food. The hotel was quite close to the Trevi Fountain so we went to check that out, which really is impressive and so many different elements to see. One down side is just how many street vendors are around it and they are *really* pushy and that detracted a bit from the moment. We couldn't decide on what to get for lunch so we just go Gelato :D

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One of the activities that our group organized among ourselves was a food tour for this evening - this is something that many of the folks from the previous ABD tour had done and they enjoyed it so much that people wanted to do it again. It was called the Twilight Trastevere tour and so many of us wanted to do it that our groups took up 3 tours for that evening. We were in the middle group which was set to start at 5pm. We walked to the starting location from our hotel to see a bit more of the city (took about 30 mins) and when we arrived there were a few other DISers there and obviously the previous group had recently taken off. It was funny to try to explain to the tour guides about our group:

Guide: So you all know each other already?

Us: no, mostly not

Guide: But you are all chatting like you have known each other forever and are all taking a cruise together?

Us: yup, exactly

We were excited for this tour as we thought it was a good way to get to try a lot of different foods Rome is known for in one evening - and it turned out to be absolutely excellent! We had a great tour guide who was knowledgeable, energetic, and very funny. During the tour we stopped at a Roman deli, a bakery for cookies, a one restaurant for appetizers, another for our main pasta meal, and a gelataria. But the highlight for me was getting to visit Spirito De Vino which was a wine cellar that is located in an excavated ancient Roman courtyard that actually dates to 80 years *before* the Colosseum was built. I think this was the moment it really hit me that we are actual in Rome and getting to experience things I never really thought I would get to in my life. Plus Judi and I really like wine ;) Overall, highly, highly recommend this tour!

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We then walked back with some other DISers and did stop at the Trevi Fountain again to see it at night. We then went to bed as we were pretty tired from our travel day and also needed to get up early the next morning as we were getting a 6:15am cab to head over to the Vatican for our early entrance tour. We did wake up in time and got the cab with no problem. We shared it with @khertz and her husband. We got to our meeting location in plenty of time and then I tagged along as a third wheel with with them (Judi went to find coffee) to go to the front of the St Peter's Square to try and get photos with no other people in it (which we were able to) and then headed back and met up with Judi (and some other DISers) and checked in and got separated into our smaller group and with our tour guide.

The tour we were doing was called the "Express Sistine Chapel, St. Peter's Basilica, and Vatican Crypt Tour" through Dark Rome tours and this tour got us in 20 mins earlier than any other tour. When planning this trip we knew we couldn't go to Rome and not stop by the Vatican (we are Roman Catholic) but also knew we didn't have time to spend all day there - so while this tour didn't go through the entire museum we did see a bit of it and then hit on the parts that were most important to me - the Sistine Chapel and St. Peter's Basilica. I must say this tour worked out perfectly! It was amazing to be there with such low crowds and even when we were in the Sistine Chapel it wasn't that crowded and we got 20 mins to just wander around and just *be* there. I definitely got emotional at that part - partly for the religious aspect but also as it was another "I never thought I would be here" moments. Seeing St. Peter's Basilica was incredible, just the scope of the building and to see all the religous people there (at one point we had to wait and let a Cardinal past - like, anywhere else in the world it is a major event when a Cardinal is in town, but there is was like not a big deal). We also climbed to the top of the dome (501 steps!) and got an incredible view. While it was an early morning, doing this tour was totally worth it and very glad we did an early access tour!
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After our tour we took a cab back and grabbed some lunch. We also stopped by the Capuchin Crypt which has a section where monks had decorated rooms using the skeletons of other monks. I think the term "hauntingly beautiful" is fairly accurate for this one! Then it was time to head to the port and get on the ship! One of the other DISers on our trip (@Cousin Orville ) had arranged for a few cars to bring a bunch of us to port ... so with that, our time in Rom was over - but I think it was a pretty productive 26 hours or so we had on the ground in Rome.
 
Ooh - great intermission. Looking forward to reading more about the cruise in your upcoming posts. I'm glad you were able to book this trip - amazing how sometimes things like schedules and flights just fall into place. Rome is an amazing city - and I think "hauntingly beautiful" is a good way to describe that crypt. I had to drag my DD there when she was 13 - she thought it would be scary - but she was glad she went in the end. It's definitely something unique! Good pick with the gelato lunch, too!
 
Part B) The Viking Sky - Our Room, the Ship, and the Food!

Once we arrived at port it was a fairly easy process to get on board (once we figured out where to go exactly in the terminal) and got checked in and then welcomed aboard with some champagne! By this point our room was ready so we went there to get settled and just check it out. Our room was on the 3rd deck and was the 2nd lowest level (as far as price point) you could get - size wise it was basically the smallest of the rooms, but for just Judi and I it was plenty large. Also, every room on the ship had a balcony so that was super nice. The appointments of the room were really nice - definitely modern and minimalist, very clean - but also welcoming, it wasn't stark or sterile at all. One of the best parts was the bathroom which was very nice and quite large considering the size of the room and had heated floors! We enjoyed that so much that we are installing them in our bathroom at home that we are currently remodeling! We found the room to be really comfortable and the room steward did a great job. Really large flat screen tv which could be used for looking up your account information and schedule and stuff like that as well. Really no complaints at all about the room.

You can see in a couple of the pictures in the collage below a large magnet that had the shape of Italy in the middle - The DIS (and Dreams Unlimited travel, the agency that Pete and John own that sponsor the show and organized the trip) sent us two of those - one to keep at home and one to bring with us to put on our stateroom door - unfortunately the magnets didn't stick to the actual doors, but the did stick to the wall right next to the door. It was fun to see them all around the ship!

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Speaking of the ship as whole - we really loved the public spaces. Just well put together and nice layout - lots of different areas to meet up with people, grab a drink, or just relax and have some quiet. The ship was obviously a lot smaller than the large cruise ship (the Viking Sky has 900 guests, the Disney Wonder has 2,400 for example) but it never felt tiny or crowded or anything. It was a really nice sized ship.

There were a number of places where they would have live music throughout the day which definitely added some "class" and was just pleasant. There were also a number of bars and lounge areas. You can see a few photos in the collage of one of the bars that was outside the restaurant area of the ship where we would often meet up with people before dinner and then also of one of the lounges that a bunch of us wound up in every evening after dinner to just hang out. The DIS folks were out and hanging with us quite a bit (in one of the photos you can see Judi chatting with Pete, Craig, Ryno, and Sean, for example). On the first full day they also organized a meet in one of the other areas which was a great way to start the cruise and get to meet people and also thank John and Kevin for organizing the trip.

There was a ton of artwork around the ship and each one had a plaque next to it with a short description of the artwork but also an ID where you could get an longer audio description of each. At the top of the main staircase was also a large digital screen where they would change out the "digital art" each day (the photo of the moon in the below collage is that digital canvas.

They had two pools: one a larger one that had a retractable roof over it - you can see a photo of that below towards the upper left of the collage (and yes, that a photo of John taking a photo) and then also a smaller infinity pool at the back of the boat (that is a photo of Judi in that pool - though it was a little chilly to be in it for too long - more the air than the water. Did also have a hot tub next to that pool.

Overall we really liked the ship. The only thing that was lacking a bit was in the evening entertainment - just wasn't the best, especially coming off of the Disney cruise which has some amazing entertainment. One funny thing was our cruise director was Aaron Syfert who had played the role of Sportacus int he touring version of Lazytown which is a wacky kids show - and it was just bizarre that out of everyone in the world he was the cruise director. he had a show one night that actually was fairly entertaining - he knew to play to the audience, for sure!

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As for the food on board, overall it was excellent! The buffet for breakfast had a ton of fresh food, lots of options. For dinner, they had the buffet and then the main dining room, which was called The Restaurant, and then two specialty restaurants - Manfredi's (an Italian restaurant) and The Chef's Table (that had a set menu with wine pairings). There was also one other restaurant (the Kitchen Table) which was the only one that had an extra fee associated with it and was more of an experience than a meal as you would go with the chef to the port to shop for ingredients, etc. and then help cook the meal. We did not do this. There was also a cafe at the pool and a few other small places.

I was really impressed by The Restaurant - it had a ton of good options (there were a few things standard each night but then a lot of different things) and it was all presented very well and nice sized portions, really good servers - just every meal was really nice. They had the menu on a digital screen out front of the restaurant (you can see Judi touching the screen in the center of that part of the collage below) which was nice so you had an idea of what was on the menu for that evening or if you wanted to eat elsewhere

Manfredi's was even better - honestly the best meal we had on board and one of the best meals I've ever had (it helped that we had it with a few people we became friends with and just had great conversation, and was just overall a highlight of the trip for us). The Chef's table was a bit of a let down (amplified by the fact I was really looking forward to it) - but the food just wasn't great. We went their twice and the first night I was really not impressed - the second time was a bit better but I think even then I preferred the main dining room.

Every day in the afternoon they also conducted "tea" which we did once and was really fun - just a nice touch and something extra to do.

The biggest issue we had was booking the specialty restaurants. We reason we booked the level we did (the 2nd lowest instead of the lowest) was that it came with "1 guaranteed meal at each specialty restaurant" - but when it was time for us to book things online (given we were a lower status we had to wait longer for our open booking period) they were all booked up as online they only book their two-tops. They assured us we could book a shared table once on board but when we tired at Manfredi's we were told "I'm sorry it's all booked for the entire week" - um, I think you don't know what "guarantee" means. We went multiple times to try to get something booked and finally got the head waiter to come over and help us and he got us in - and in the end we were able to get others in with us that had the same issue and as mentioned above it turned out to be a wonderful meal, so guess sometimes things work out in the end ... but it was really frustrating at the time.

Other than the booking issue and the slight disappointment that was the Chef's Table - we were really impressed with the food and dinner was a highlight of every night!

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There is a lot to cover with the ports of call and excursions so I will stop for now and cover that later.

TTFN!
 


You all look so great in your pirate gear! Great pics with Goofy, Hook, and Smee!

Glad you enjoyed dinner that night!

Seeing Black Panther on board must have been a cool experience! I really like that the ships show the new movies!

Glad you enjoyed your time in Rome! The food tour sounds awesome and I love all the pics!
 
It was funny to try to explain to the tour guides about our group:

Guide: So you all know each other already?

Us: no, mostly not

Guide: But you are all chatting like you have known each other forever and are all taking a cruise together?

Us: yup, exactly
That is so true! Everytime I mention a friend or dismeet, people are like, wait-how do you know them? And are very confused how we get along so great and chat as if we are great friends!
 
Even without the fireworks, pirate night looked really fun and the dinner also looked really good. Watching Black Panther was a great way to end the night.
 
Wow the Italy cruise sounds amazing! I am enjoying reading about it! All the pictures from your day in Rome are beautiful!
 
Thanks for the DIS trip intermission, it really makes me want to consider a Viking Cruise. I've always thought that they looked lovely (the PBS sponsorship is definitely getting through to me), but I kind of considered Viking as a retirement vacation option (even though I am AARP eligible, but just barely) or a trip that I might do with my mom (pictured left)--so it's interesting to see your perspective on this.
 
You all look so great in your pirate gear! Great pics with Goofy, Hook, and Smee!

Glad you enjoyed dinner that night!

Seeing Black Panther on board must have been a cool experience! I really like that the ships show the new movies!

Glad you enjoyed your time in Rome! The food tour sounds awesome and I love all the pics!

Thanks so much! We knew we wanted to participate in Pirate Night as it is something unique and specific to taking a Disney Cruise, but also didn't want to go crazy. In the end I was pretty happy with what we did and I am glad we got in the pictures we did!

I was really excited about the fact that they show the new movies on board and when I realized our cruise would line up with Black Panther I knew it was something I wanted to see on the ship - glad it worked out!

The food tour was amazing - got to see a part of the city I don't think we would have otherwise and got to try some really good food!


That is so true! Everytime I mention a friend or dismeet, people are like, wait-how do you know them? And are very confused how we get along so great and chat as if we are great friends!

haha ... also was awkward for me the time my family had a meet up with another DIS family and when I was introducing them to my wife I was like "Hon, this is the woman I met on the internet" - #OutofContextCommentsAreFunny


Even without the fireworks, pirate night looked really fun and the dinner also looked really good. Watching Black Panther was a great way to end the night.

Definitely had fun on Pirate night and I am glad I enjoyed the food as much as I did - especially having read reports from others that skip the pirate night food ... definitely was a good way to end the night!


Enjoyed the overviews! It was such a great trip. And thanks for the TR plug!

Thanks! Definitely a great trip - so glad we decided to go for it! NP - always not sure if I should reference someone else's report so glad you don't mind ;)
 
Wow the Italy cruise sounds amazing! I am enjoying reading about it! All the pictures from your day in Rome are beautiful!

The cruise really was one of those "once in a lifetime" things to get to such an amazing place but share it with so many "friends" and the DIS team and stuff. So glad we decided to go for it!

Rome is pretty easy to photograph - glad you are enjoying them!


Thanks for the DIS trip intermission, it really makes me want to consider a Viking Cruise. I've always thought that they looked lovely (the PBS sponsorship is definitely getting through to me), but I kind of considered Viking as a retirement vacation option (even though I am AARP eligible, but just barely) or a trip that I might do with my mom (pictured left)--so it's interesting to see your perspective on this.

The age range on the Viking ships definitely skews older. They said we had the lowest average age sailing they have done and it was still in the 60s ... but there were some other younger people besides our group (just not a ton). Also a lot of experiences cruisers - one couple we were seated next to at dinner we found out were on their 188th cruise!


Love the intermission! Seems like an incredible time on that cruise.

Glad you are enjoying it - definitely a great time with a great group and in a really beautiful place to visit! It was a bit of a hectic time with the travel and trying to fit in as much as we did - but we are very glad we decided to go for it!
 
Part C) Excursions and Recap/Comparison to Disney Cruise Line

In this section I am going to cover the excursions that we did. Viking provided an included tour at each port - and also some additional tours you could book for an extra cost. You could also just explore on your own or book private tours. We tried to take advantage of the included tours to save some money, but did also do a couple of private tours as well as one extra charge Viking tour. They are listed in the order that we made each port.

Naples:
The first night we left port at Rome (actually, we were docked in Civitavecchia, which is a town about 80kms from Rome - but is where all the ships dock when visiting Rome) to sail to Naples. We actually weren't getting in to port until noonish so that meant we got to sleep in (which was good as it was also Day Light Savings that night so we lost an hour) and also meant we didn't have a ton of time actually in Naples. A lot of people were doing one of the extra charge tours that took to you visit Pompeii but we had actually already been to Herculaneum the one other time we had been to Italy (we had done a weekend in Sorento several years ago as an add on to one time I had to be in Zurich for work) and figured this was one place we could save a little $ and just do the included tour. This tour they bused us around town a bit and then dropped us off in an area that had a lot of local shops and cafe's and stuff. The bussing part wasn't that great (they are doing a lot o renovations to historical sites there so many had scrims up over them so not much to see ... you can see one of the scrims in the photo in the upper right of the collage - made me feel like we were in Disney!) - but we really enjoyed the time we had to walk around and check out the shops and stuff. We did stop in one cafe for an espresso and small snack and then stopped at a restaurant for some pizza (figured can't be in Naples and not get a pizza) - so that was really nice.

Overall we liked Naples but wasn't the highlight of the trip or anything
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Messina / Taormina and the Gambino Winery
The next day we arrived on the Island of Sicily in the port of Messina. For this day I had organized a private tour with several other DISers (there were 9 of us in total). This turned out to be a fantastic day! Our driver was great and took us to a ton of places to see a lot of different areas around the village of Toarmina (including to this upper village area that was super picturesque and featured a church that was build directly into a cave .... and also was home to a bar that was decorated with a ton of, um, ***** shaped decorations - so that was unique!). We got some time to explore Taormina and do some shopping (we got a table runner for us and one for my mom and some kitchen aprons for our kids that were personalized right in front of us all freehand!) and also to visit the amphitheater which was really cool! We ran into Craig, Ryno, Kylie, and Eli there. Pete passed us while in town and he was beyond non-shocked to hear we were headed to a winery later.

The trip to the winery was the main reason I had booked the private tour (though it turned out we got a much better tour of Taormina and the surrounding area than the included tour as well). This was the Gambino family winery which is on the slopes of Mt Etna, meaning the vines grow in volcanic soil. We had a wonderful time here sampling some great wines and their "small plate of food" was more than enough for a full meal (what you see in the photos below is only the first course we got)! We also got a tour of the wine cellars and then were able to purchase wine as they were able to ship directly to our homes in the US! Lastly, we stopped at a bakery on the way back to port to get some cannolis and other pastries. Some of our traveling companions bought out all the cannolis they had! This stop turned out to be one of the real highlights of our trip! If you are ever in Messina I highly recommend Coop. Sicily Life Tours
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Crotone and the Ceraudo Winery and Restorante Datillo
Following Messina, we docked at Crotone which is located at the bottom of the front part of the "boot" of Italy. Here we were participating in another private tour - this one arranged by fellow DISer @Cousin Orville. It was a bit funny how this one came to be in that this stop was the one where Viking had a extra charge tour they organized to a winery - the Ceraudo Winery. Well, by the time booking was open to most of us it was booked up - which was a bummer. Well, Cousin Orville reached out to them to see if we could organize a private tour and as the back and forth happened eventually we got not only a tour of the winery set up but also they would open up their restaurant there - Restorante Datillo - for lunch for us which is a Michlin Star rated restaurant. And in the end, the Viking group wound up going to a different winery (we suspect it was because they realized there would be other people from the cruise having a "better" tour, but not entirely sure). To say we were looking forward to this stop would be a massive understatement.

We did have to arrange our own transportation to the winery which worked out in the end but this was definitely not as common of a thing in this port - and we just fit in the van they brought (we had 19 people total in our group). When we arrived at the winery we met the owner and a woman who worked there and acted as the translator. We saw the wine production areas, the family chapel which is on property and explored some of the grounds. Eventually we were brought to the restaurant which is just an unbelievably beautiful space. They provided us a menu and it looked amazing - it was a set menu but they did have vegetarian alternatives for a few of the courses, which Judi took advantage of. Then they started bringing out food and it did not appear to match up with what was on the printed menu and we figured that they just decided to go in a different direction. Um, no, these were just extra appetizers they were bringing out BEFORE the 6 course lunch! All in all, lunch took about 4 hours and was simply incredible. To share a meal of that caliber with 17 other DISers that we had started to really become friends with by that point, in Italy is just something I will never forget.
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Bari
The next stop was Bari, which is located around the heel of the book, roughly where the actual heel of your foot would be. This was one place we didn't know too much about and decided to just do the included walking tour. This turned out to be a pretty good tour that showed us a bit of the city and through some of the winding streets. Our guide was only OK as she was sometimes hard to understand. Also, one stop was in a church and we went down to the lower level where, it turns out, a service was going on. She indicated before we went down that she wouldn't be able to talk about the area due to the service ... but then proceeded to talk a lot which made it all very awkward.. We then had time on our own afterward and we really enjoyed that time. We did a bit of shopping (I actually bought a bathing suit as I had totally forgotten to bring one) and then we found a great place for lunch, Tiella. This place had the best beer list I had found so far and I posted about it to the group Facebook post and Craig actually saw that and they made a point to stop there due to that and was very thankful as he too enjoyed the beer there.

They also had a Ferris wheel - like the Orlando or London Eye - that we decided to take a ride on. That was really fun and gave us some great views. All in all we enjoyed our time in Bari
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Sibenik, Croatia
Our second to last stop was also our only stop not in Italy, as we crossed the Adriatic Sea over to Croatia and the small town of Sibenik. This is a rather small port (there is a narrow channel ships have to be able to pass through to get to it - in fact our ship is one of the largest that has ever docked there) and is another one we really knew little about or what to expect. Here we also did the included tour - and it turned out to be the best included tour we did. Our guide was wonderful - great mix of information but also humor and just kept the pace going and kept it interesting. We definitely found the quality of your individual guide made a big different as to how much you enjoyed the tour - and in some ways, the port as a whole. Beyond the tour we also took a walk up to one of the ancient forts, that had been retrofitted to act as a theater. One thing we foudn with the town was there were a lot of signs giving directions to the major sights and also others that just provided information on what you were seeing at that specific spot - so it was definitely tourist friendly.

While we didn't make it to a winery here, we did find a wine bar that had local wine available so we got some of that. We also asked the bartender for a recomendation on where to eat and he came out of the store to direct us to a place which he described as "cheap prices, big portions, like mama makes." This was a great experience as it was a super local place with just sort of what they were making that day available. On the way back to the ship we also stopped in another location which was a Cafe and Pancake Bar - which had all sorts of crazy pancakes (which, in reality were more like what we consider crepes) - many themed to different candy bars. You can see the one I got on the right side of the collage whcih was a Twix pancake (and another glass of wine of course)

As mentioned, we really didn't know what to expect from Sibenik but it turned out to be one of our favorite ports. It really had the feel of a medieval village and tons of charm, super friendly people, good food - just a really enjoyable day!
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Venice
Our last port was back in Italy, this time in Venice. We would be docked here for two days, so we had a very full day in town and then we would be headed to the airport fairly early the next morning. This was also a day we had an extra charge Viking tour planned as we wanted to see where they made the Venetian glass. They had one tour called The Island and the Abbey which first went to the island of Maurano to see the glass making and then to the and there was one that had that and also stopped at the monastery on the island of San Giorgio Maggiore which is hope to two masterpiece works of art by the painter Tintoretto: The Last Supper and The Gathering of the Manna. We enjoyed the stops but it wasn't an amazing tour. The stop at Maurano largely felt like a stop to buy things (which we did buy some of the glass as we knew that was one things we wanted) and I really appreciate getting to see those two works of art at the monestary, but our guide kept pointing out all the other things to see there but then would add "but we don't have time to see those on this tour". So it was good and I feel like we got to see the things we wanted, but there are probably better options out there.

After the tour we explored more of Venice proper as we figured we had to see St. Mark's Square and the other famous sights. The first thing that jumped out at me was just how crowded it was! Maybe this was amplified by comeing here right after two stops at rather small, quite towns, but it was pretty nuts! It was also Good Friday so I am sure that contributed to things as well. It was neat to see the sights and I am looking forward to trying to recreate our photos next time we are in EPCOT, but I think we enjoyed our time there more once we got outside of the main areas and to the quieter sections. We did find a great place for lunch - another super local type place that just had a few things on the menu based on what they made that day - but were very good! We then walked over to a Venician Mask store that had been recommended to us by a DISer that stopped there while on the ABD tour and I got a mask for my sister for her birthday. We then took a gondola ride, which was really fun and we are glad we just did one like this vs through Viking as it was soooo much cheaper. Lastly we found a local artist who takes photographs very early in the morning when the water in the canals is still so he can take mirror images photos - where the scene is also reflected in the water and he told us about the proportions he uses, etc. - it was really interesting and I think we got some really nice photos that were only 10 Euros each.

Overall I think Venice was a bit less that what I expected - largely due to the crowds. It was neat, and I am glad we got there, but there are definitely other stops that I would like to return to more than Venice.
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We were then back to the ship and the next morning we disembarked and headed to the airport for our return trip.


Recap/comparison to Disney Cruise Line
Overall this was just an amazing trip. Italy is a place I am so glad we got to explore as much as we did and visiting those wineries and some of the smaller towns was truly a highlight. Beyond that though, getting to experience with Judi for our anniversary was just wonderful and I am very thankful to my in-laws for watching the kids. Lastly, getting to also experience it with so many other DISers and the Podcast team was such a unique opportunity and I really think we made some friends for life. I wouldn't hesitate to do another Viking cruise (would love to do one of the river cruises) though I think I would want to do it with a least a few other people.

As for Viking compared to Disney Cruise Line:
  • Ship: It's tough to compare the ships as they are both amazing but also very different styles. The Viking one was much more clean lines a bit classier, but the Disney one had so many Disney details - I think that for Disney fans it is hard to top the Disney ships but for a "regular" person they would likely prefer the Viking ship
  • Stateroom: Again, both were very nice but I think it give the nod to Viking - I really loved the appointments of the room and how functional it was ... and the bathroom was light-years better than what Disney had
  • Food: This one too is tough as I really enjoyed both but it is very different dining styles - the fact your servers rotate with you on Disney I think helps a lot. I think overall I would have to pick Viking, though the Chef's Table really disappointed. I think if we just skipped that and did the main dining room more - and especially if we were able to do Manfredi's more than once, Viking would definitely have been superior (but in no way does this mean I didn't like the food on Disney, because I did)
  • Entertainment: This is one area where Disney really outshines Viking. The musicians in the public area were generally rather good and a really nice touch but the main evening entertainment on Viking definitely fell a bit short whereas that is where Disney shined
  • Service: This one too is close as both were quite high, but I give the slight win to Disney. Main reason being that a few times I went to guest services on the Viking ship with questions and they would just direct me to someone else whereas I feel on Disney even if it wasn't that specific CMs area they would figure out how to take care of it or contact the right person themselves. This combined with some of the challenges of getting booked at the specialty restaurants I think pushes Disney ahead for me ... but Viking was still quite good and the crew to guest ratio is really high which was nice.

Hope you enjoyed this little intermission and if you have any specific questions, don't hesitate to ask!

TTFN!
 
SOunds like you had a really great time at all the ports! Your experience at the Ceraudo Winery and in Croatia sound especially memorable! Love all the collages!
 
SOunds like you had a really great time at all the ports! Your experience at the Ceraudo Winery and in Croatia sound especially memorable! Love all the collages!

Of course we enjoyed some ports more than others but overall we really enjoyed them and got to see a lot of places we never thought we would get to. The two wineries were definitely great experiences and Croatia was such a nice surprise!

Glad you enjoyed the collages - I wasn't really sure the best way to include pictures without this "intermission" winding up as like 17 parts. so this was the best I came up with ;)
 
*** Back to our regularly scheduled program .... ***

Part 32) Breakfast and some Meet and Greets with Emma!

Day 6 dawned bringing with it our last sea day. We were excited to get some time to just relax and enjoy more activities on the ship ... and at this point I was definitely more easy going and rather than scheduling things just totally left it up to everyone to do what they wanted. Which, for Olivia and Peter meant spending the entire day in the Kids Club. Emma was feeling a bit more needy for Mommy and Daddy time, which was nice as I got to spend some time with her

It started off with breakfast - Olivia and I went up first to get food while the others slept in/got a slow moving start to the day. The first plate is mine and the second is Olivia - who had gotten into a habit of making oatmeal with Nutella in it - hey whatever works for her
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we brought drinks and some food (pastries, etc.) back to the room and my mom came over and enjoyed some time on the veranda
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Then I dropped Olivia and Peter off at the kids club and Emma wanted to get more breakfast so we went back up to Cabanas and decided to enjoy some time outside while she ate (a bit of) her breakfast. The weather was lovely - though the wind would pick up at times which meant perhaps an orange wasn't the best choice ;)
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I went through options with Emma as to what to do and she wanted to do some character meets. The first one out that we could make was Tinkerbell so we went to the 2nd floor of the Atrium to line up for that meet. I took a picture of the boarder they had going around that had carvings of various Disney characters in it (definitely an example of all the Disney touches on the ship)
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Also saw the picture on the wall covering the "godmother" of the Wonder - which is Tinker Bell! Thought it was fitting as we were on our way to meet her
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They had a nice area set up for these meets and they would change the background to match whatever character was meeting

Emma showed off her shirt to Tinker Bell - which has a bunch of Disney princesses all holding lightsabers (plus Princess Leia holding her blaster) and says "Why should the boys have all the fun?" and Tinker Bell really liked it and showed it off to the photopass photographer
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Then some photopass photos of a hug and pose where Emma is looking awkward smiling
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This turned out to be a great meet - and was a bit of an extra one we did on the way to the meet Emma really wanted to do - which was Princess Minnie. This one was held outside of the Walt Disney Theater and we were one of the first on line to meet her:

Emma had a nice meet with her - starting with her patented "falling into the characters that are in big dresses" move:
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After this I brought Emma back to the room where Judi was resting and relaxing
 

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