Cruising with Kids!
Sunday, May 8, 2016 - Venice
We booked this cruise line again with my children who were now 2 and 3, my husband and my parents. This time we had to buy airline tickets for both kids (bummer), but kids under 11 sail for free on MSC Cruises.
The kids both had ear infections right before we left and I was very nervous about the flight. The doctor suggested giving them Children's Sudafed and I did. They both slept MUCH better on this flight compared to the last. I also didn't bother to bring the car seats this time.
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| Headphones make kids happy on flights! |
I did purchase headphones
(Lil Gadget headphones) for both kids so they could watch a DVD player that we brought with movies. We also uploaded a few shows to our old iPhones, so they could watch things when we were out and about without using cellular data.
We booked a balcony room again with a pull out sofa bed. The sofa bed was great, as it was 2 separate beds.
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| Sofa bed |
This time we had an aft balcony with plexiglass sides. We loved it! This particular itinerary had a lot of beautiful views to look at and we REALLY enjoyed the views from our balcony.
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| View of Venice from our balcony |
There was some noise and shaking being aft. In fact I had trouble sleeping due to a rattling noise. After much searching, I finally found out it was the shelf inside the safe that was rattling. Once I took that out, the rattling stopped.
The food was very similar to our last cruise on MSC Divina. We loved the pizza and pasta on the buffet. This time we awoke early for all ports to be one of the first ones off. We also just ate snacks at most ports and enjoyed the buffet on the ship for late lunches most days. I often grabbed cereal boxes in the morning as it was one of the things my picky eaters would eat.
The MSC Orchestra had a nice play area that my kids really enjoyed.
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| Play area on MSC Orchestra |
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| Slide on MSC Orchestra |
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| Play area MSC Orchestra |
I did buy a
Lascal Buggy Board for this trip, as our last trip both kids would fight over the umbrella stroller at times or want to be carried. This way one child could ride in the stroller, while the other rode on the back. It was also easy to just push one stroller if both wanted to walk or run.
Monday, May 9, 2016 - Bari
We took the MSC shuttle into town. From here we walked around a bit and then grabbed a tour that included a short train ride as well as a walking tour of the town. There was some sort of festival going on. The town was very cute.
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| Bari |
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| Strollers are great for naps! - Note the buggy board in back |
Tuesday, May, 10, 2016 - Katakolon - Olympia
Wednesday, May 11, 2016 - Santorini
This was one of the highlights of the trip! We booked an excursion to Oia when we got off the ship (not through MSC). This gave us a boat trip to Oia, where a bus took us to town. The views in Oia were amazing! We walked around the town and did some shopping and had a snack at a cafe. The bus then took us back to town, but it was very crowded. I think we were the last ones to make our bus (I believe they left every hour). We took the funicular back down to port. This is my only issue with Santorini. The lines for the funicular were ridiculously long. Someone told us after we had waited quite awhile that we could have gotten to the front of the line with small children. So you may want to check that out if you go with small kids. We were almost at the front by this time anyway, so just stayed in line.
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| View from balcony |
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| View of Santorini from balcony |
Thursday, May, 12, 2016 - Pireus - Athens
We got off the ship early and just missed the Pireaus express bus as we were getting money out of the ATM. No taxis would take us to Athens, though. They all wanted to take people on full day tours. So we decided to just wait for the next Express bus.
The bus dropped us off close to the Acropolis. We were able to check our stroller before headed to the top. The walk was not that bad. My 3 year old was able to do it and my husband carried our 2 year old.
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| Acropolis |
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| Acropolis |
After the Acropolis we walked to the Plaka District and shopped a bit and had a snack.
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| Snack time |
We then headed to see the changing of the guards. We couldn't figure out where to catch the Express bus back, so just grabbed a taxi back to port.
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| Changing of the guard |
Friday, May, 13, 2016 - Corfu
We took a cab to town and walked around and shopped. We had a snack at a nice cafe where the kids could run around on the grass next to us. This was a nice, relaxing day. My mother-in-law had requested a white purse and we were able to find a nice one here at a reasonable cost.
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| Playing in Corfu |
Saturday, May 14, 2016 - Kotor
This was another great view from our balcony. We ordered room service breakfast and watched as we passed through the Fjords. Unfortunately, this was one of the only rainy days we had on our trip. We just walked around the old town for a bit and shopped and had a snack again at a little cafe.
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| Views from balcony coming into Kotor |
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| Kotor |
Sunday, May 15, 2016 - Venice
We again enjoyed the views from our balcony as we entered Venice. Our plan was to take a water taxi to our hotel, but there was some regatta going on that day and the main canal near our hotel was closed. We had to take a minivan taxi to a water taxi and then WALK with all our luggage to the hotel. My poor husband was carrying all our luggage over all those bridges.
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| Regatta that closed the Grand Canal |
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| My husband carrying all the luggage |
Our hotel was Hotel Dei Dragomanni. We had stayed here on our babymoon and liked it. They also offered "Family Rooms". Our room was very spacious, but there was a skylight over our bed that made the light shine in our eyes in the morning. There was even a separate sitting area.
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| Family room with extra bed and pack and play |
We walked around Piazza San Marco and had lunch at a cafe overlooking the Grand Canal.
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| Piazza San Marco |
We had dinner at a lovely restaurant near our hotel along a side canal called Da Rafaelle. There were gondolas going by with singers. We loved this place so much we ate there again another night.
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| Dinner at our favorite restaurant - Da Raffaele |
Monday, May 16, 2016 - Venice - Murano, Burano
Dinner was on a a piazza near our hotel.
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| Headphones come in handy at dinner |
Tuesday, May 17, 2016 - Venice
Today we took a gondola ride. It was a gorgeous day and we loved it. Our gondolier was very nice. We went under the Bridge of Sighs.
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| Gondola ride |
We then walked over to the area near Rialto bridge and had lunch on the Grand Canal there. The restaurant was the Florida (since we are from Florida!). We shopped and just took our time.
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| Lunch near Rialto bridge |
For dinner, we ate again at the cute little restaurant near our hotel again - Da Raffaele
Wednesday, May 18, 2016 - Leaving Venice
We were able to get a water taxi to the airport this time (no regatta!) and had no issues. It was a great way to end our trip!
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| Water Taxi to airport |
We really enjoyed this cruise. We were a little better prepared having done it before. Venice is NOT stroller friendly. We ended up leaving it in our hotel, but we did use it at other ports. The Lascal Buggy Board was really helpful too when both didn't want to walk. We have used it on other trips since.
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