Our first cruise

Dear Grace, 

The three of us took our first cruise, back in October. We flew into Venice, Italy and the first port on the Eastern Mediterranean cruise was in Bari, Italy. It then took us around Greece, which included ports along Katakolon(Olympia), Santorini, Mykonos, Crete, and Corfu. We popped into Dubrovnik, Croatia before heading back to Murano and Burano, Italy. We were supposed to stop in Athens, but due to the strikes, all public transportation and sightseeing places were completely shut down. The cruise informed everyone the night before that we would be stopping at Crete instead. Overall, cruise living made for a fantastic family vacation. Who's interested in joining us for a cruise in the future?

Love, Mummy and Daddy 

Our first look at the ship: the MSC Musica 

If you're able to get a good deal like we were, we would strongly recommend getting a room with a balcony. Talk about a relaxing way to enjoy your morning coffee or drink before bed, while your little one was sound asleep on the other side of the door. Sorry-earmuffs, Grace.

Views from our balcony.

Even though this particular cruise ship wasn't advertised as being overly kid friendly, there were many aspects of the week that kept you entertained. Prior to this vacation, I really only knew two things about cruises. One was that there were formal dinners where you could dress up in your fancy-shmancy prom or bridesmaid dresses (depending on your age). The other was that they made cool things out of the towels in your room...

Since we sat at the same table every night and had the same waiters, we were able to get to know the people around us by the end of the vacation.

We didn't spend too much time on the actual cruise since we were out exploring during the day, but I was able to capture one of my favorite memories relaxing on the back of the cruise ship with you two.

In case you were curious like me, the front of the cruise ship looks nothing like the movie Titanic. There's no spot for a Kodak moment of "I'm the King of the World!"

The next few blog posts will highlight the different ports we were able to explore.