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| Park Guell - Barcelona |
Cruising Mediterranean with Toddlers!
We booked this cruise with our 2 small children (almost 3 year old son and 1 1/2 year old daughter) and my parents. MSC is an Italian cruise line and kids sail for free! Since our kids are too small to sleep in pullman beds, we booked a balcony room. Some balcony rooms on this ship have pull out beds and we booked one of these rooms.
This was our first time sailing in a balcony room. Unfortunately, we got one of the balconies that have the steel enclosure instead of plexiglass, but it was still nicer than an ocean view room.
Wed., Sept. 23, 2015 - Barcelona
We had a long flight and I made the mistake of bringing a car seat on the plane for my 2 year old. I read extensively and most say this is the safest option. I figured he would fall asleep easier in his car seat as he sleeps in his car seat all the time in the car. I was WRONG! My youngest was on my lap, as she was still free to fly (being under 2). Neither child really slept much on our red-eye flight to Barcelona. My youngest ended up throwing up on me as we landed. Oh well, at least it was at the end of the flight! |
| Car Seat on Airplane |
One of the challenges of traveling with little ones is the amount of things you have to pack! Neither of my children were fully potty trained at this point, so I packed enough diapers for both. I also brought along the car seat (which was barely used and didn't help my son sleep on the plane). I also brought my little one's car seat (but checked it). They DID use them on the taxi ride to the port, but I think you can book car's with car seats for airport rides and this would have probably been an easier option.
I did buy lightweight car seats for this trip that were approved for airline use. Both were relatively inexpensive. We use these in my husband's car as extra seats, so it wasn't a total waste. We've also used them on subsequent trips when we have rented a car.
We purchased the Evenflo Maestro Booster car seat. And also the Cosco Scenera NEXT car seat.
Another option is to purchase a CARES Harness. We have not used one, but I thought about it. You can also rent them from sellers on eBay.
We arrived at the port, but it was too early to check in. Luckily, they were able to check our luggage and we headed into the city of Barcelona to explore a bit. We took an MSC shuttle (for a fee) back into the city. My little one was getting extremely cranky, but fell asleep on the shuttle. Luckily we brought our umbrella stroller and we were able to grab a little breakfast at a cafe on the Ramblas while she napped.
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| Umbrella stroller is a lifesaver! |
After exploring the Ramblas for a bit, we headed back to the ship. We were able to board at 12 pm. Check in was pretty quick and easy. We then headed to the buffet for lunch. The buffet on the MSC Divina was pretty extensive. We particularly liked the pizza and pasta sections. There is even a separate section for children. Unfortunately, we only found chicken nuggets here on a few days (a staple for my son).
After lunch, our room was ready (around 2pm), so we headed there - hooray! This was a pretty long day for my kids (and for us!), so we decided to take a nap. We called and asked for a pack and play and had that set up for my little one. We pushed this next to the couch and instead of having the steward pull out the couch, had him make the bed on the couch. It worked pretty well.
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| Pack and Play next to couch - Steel balcony in background |
For dinner, we had early seating and were at a table for 6. They had a high chair for my little one. My picky 2 year old didn't find much he liked most nights. It is an Italian cruise line and they didn't have chicken fingers in the dining room any nights (his staple). They do offer a children's menu that varies slightly daily. Some items they often had included pizza, hot dog, and hamburger. I believe they always had grilled chicken.
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| High chair in dining room |
Thurs., Sept. 24, 2015 - Sea Day
We slept in today until 11:30am!! We all really needed the sleep! Today we just explored the ship a little.Fri., Sept 25, 2015 - Naples - Capri
We took our time eating breakfast as this was one of the meals both of my picky eaters were able to find food they liked. My son enjoyed pancakes almost every morning on the ship, while my little girl loved eggs. This would prove to be a mistake for most of our trip. Next time we will wake up early to eat breakfast and not waste precious time in port.
We headed to the boats to Capri (we decided to do all "do-it-your-own" as we didn't want the kids to disrupt any tours). We just missed the 9:30am boat, so had to wait for the 10:10 boat. When we arrived at Capri, it was very crowded. We had THOUGHT about doing the Blue Grotto, but I wasn't sure if the kids could handle it. Well, the tide was too high or too rough that day - can't remember which - but there were no tours to Blue Grotto that day, so the decision was easy.
We decided to head up to Anacapri. The line for the funicular was crazy long as was the line for taxis. We decided to wait in the line for taxis as they looked so cute with their convertible tops. As we waited in line, my father went and bought tickets for the boat ride back to Naples as I had read sometimes you might miss getting back. We booked tickets for the 2:50pm boat ride back.
Capri was a lovely little town and we really loved the little taxi ride (I had seen them on an episode of Rick Steves). We just had a leisurely lunch and walked around the shops for a bit and enjoyed the views. We did bring the umbrella stroller with us again and the little one napped a bit. We took the funicular back down.
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| View in Capri - can't get 2 toddlers to smile! |
Sat., Sept 26, 2015 - Civitavecchia - Rome
My parents have been to Rome several times and my husband and I had just gone on our "babymoon" when I was pregnant with my 1st, but we decided to still make the trek to get some photos with the family and enjoy the city a bit. Again we should have gotten off the ship earlier, but you live and learn! We had to take a shuttle to the end of the port and then ANOTHER shuttle to the train station. I believe we didn't get on the train to Rome until about 10am or so.
When we arrived in Rome we decided to do the hop on hop off bus to just ride around. It was late in the day to do this I think, as it was EXTREMELY crowded in Rome (maybe it being a Saturday made it worse?). We bought tickets for the bus, but then couldn't get on!! It was too crowded! We decided to take the Metro to the Colosseum as I really wanted to get a family photo here and pick up the hop on hop off bus there. We got our photos, but then again we had trouble getting on the hop on hop off bus. We had to wait in line and let several buses go by before we were able to get on.
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| The Colosseum |
Once we were on, we decided to just stay on the bus and enjoy the sites. It was enjoyable once we were able to get on the bus, but the waiting in line was terrible! I think maybe if we would have gotten off the ship as soon as we could it wouldn't have been so crowded. We took the 2:42pm train back to port.
As we were getting ready for dinner, my kids were playing around in our cabin. My older one was standing on a little ottoman type chair and I asked him to get down. As I turned my back to dress my little one, he fell! He hit his head on the corner of something and there was blood everywhere! I was so scared! We called the medical center and they sent someone up right away and escorted us to the medical center. He ended up needing stitches on his scalp! He was fine, but my husband and I were terrified. We were very lucky this happened on the ship and not in Rome.
Sun., Sept. 27, 2015 - La Spezia - Cinque Terre
We took a shuttle to the end of the port and then a taxi to the train station. We took the 10:10 train to Riomaggiore. |
| Train to Riomaggiore |
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| Cinque Terre |
We walked around and then took the train to Vernazza. We had eaten lunch here on our babymoon and we enjoyed lunch in the same spot - now with our 2 children!
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| Lunch in Vernazza |
We then decided to head back to La Spezia on the train. It was CRAZY CROWDED! I mean - pushing and shoving - people being shoulder to shoulder crowded. In fact, my parents, husband and son were on the train and people tried to push me off with my little girl in my arms. One lady yelled at me to get off the train (an American). I was shocked! I yelled back that my whole family was on the train and I was not getting off. Finally once on, someone offered me their seat and I gladly accepted it.
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| Priority seating on train |
Mon., Sept 28, 2015 - Cannes
There was a long wait for a tender here as we made the mistake of waiting to get out tender tickets until after finishing breakfast. In the future, I would get the tender tickets first and then eat breakfast as there will still be a wait. Once in Cannes, we decided to take the Petit Train tour (around 11:20am). This was a nice little ride and my little one fell asleep on my lap.
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| Petit Train in Cannes |
We then walked around a bit and decided to have lunch and a lovely little restaurant called Riviera Beach. They even had a children's menu with chicken nuggets (Score!!) and the kids were able to play on the beach a bit.
There were lots of vendors selling their goods by the tender area as we waited to go back to the ship. We all bought cute little hats.
Tues., Sept 29, 2015 - Palma de Mallorca
We took the MSC shuttle (for a fee) to the center of town and walked around a bit. We decided to take the hop on hop off bus here and it was quite enjoyable (and not so crowded like Rome). The town is lovely and we had never been. We just stayed on the bus until it returned to town. We then shopped a bit and headed back to the ship.
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| Hop on Hop off in Palma de Mallorca |
Wed, Sept. 30, 2015 - Barcelona
We debarked the ship around 10:50am and took a taxi to our hotel, H10 - Port Vell. This was a nice little hotel. It looked pretty new and was comfortable. They did provide a pack and play for us and we just let our older one share our King size bed with us. We had a little balcony and our room was next door to my parents which was nice. I did have one issue with the hotel (maybe not their fault), but I booked our tickets to Sagrada Familia for the next day using their wifi and my credit card information was stolen. It was then cancelled for the rest of the trip! Luckily my husband and parents still had credit cards to use.We had dinner and then strolled to the Cathedral. There were street performers including a "bubble guy" that the children loved! We grabbed some gelato and headed back to the hotel.
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| Cathedral in Barcelona |
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| Bubble guy |
Thurs., Oct. 1, 2015 - Barcelona
We had tickets booked for Sagrada Familia at 10:15am. We did not go up as our kids were too young. The church was lovely and we really enjoyed it. |
| Inside Sagrada Familia |
We took the funicular to Castell Montjuic. There were great views here of Sagrada Familia. The kids enjoyed playing and hiding in the Fort.
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| View of Sagrada Familia |
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| Playing at the Fort |
We had lunch at a place by our hotel and it was quite possibly the worst pizza I've ever had! We napped and then walked to dinner at a place near the beach. The kids really enjoyed it and they even had breaded chicken (close enough to chicken nuggets - ha!)
Fri., Oct. 2, 2015 - Barcelona
We did not make reservations for Park Guell as I was nervous about someone else's credit card information getting stolen. We got there early, but had to wait for a 12:30pm entrance. We had breakfast at a place near the park that had the most delicious orange juice we've ever had! The kids then played in the playground near the park before we entered the ticketed area. |
| Playground at Park Guell |
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| Slide at playground - Park Guell |
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| Paella |
We went back to the hotel and napped. We then headed out for our last night to see the Magic Fountain of Montjuic. It was a late night, but the kids loved it.
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| Magic Fountain of Montjuic |
This was a great cruise/trip. We had our issues, but I think we learned a few things. Traveling with kids can be a challenge, but you have to find what works for you. We for the most part enjoyed hop on hop off tours or small train tours. We also should have awaken earlier as the kids really need naps in the afternoon still. We really enjoyed Barcelona and found it an easy port to fly into/out of and reach the port. For a multigenerational trip, cruises are a good option.
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