TheHobbys

btw - if anyone is interested and traveling into Rome ...  I would highly recommend using Rome Cabs.  My dad recommended using them from their trip a few years back.  It was only $175 euro's to get from Rome to the cruise port and the same to get back to the Leonardo Div. airport.  
We booked reservations about a month before the cruise.  There was no payment due and we just paid the driver once they showed up, we did tip both drivers but it is not required.  Both drivers were on time, courteous and got all our bags and us loaded and to our destination.   
Stefano’s RomeCabs | Website: www.RomeCabs.com
Normally, I wouldn't post stuff like this - but have to say, it was very nice to have our own dedicated cab/driver and not have to wait in line or flag down someone who may not have been as affordable.  Just a piece of mind to have this part booked.
 

btw - if anyone is interested and traveling into Rome ...  I would highly recommend using Rome Cabs.  My dad recommended using them from their trip a few years back.  It was only $175 euro's to get from Rome to the cruise port and the same to get back to the Leonardo Div. airport.  
We booked reservations about a month before the cruise.  There was no payment due and we just paid the driver once they showed up, we did tip both drivers but it is not required.  Both drivers were on time, courteous and got all our bags and us loaded and to our destination.   
Stefano’s RomeCabs | Website: www.RomeCabs.com
Normally, I wouldn't post stuff like this - but have to say, it was very nice to have our own dedicated cab/driver and not have to wait in line or flag down someone who may not have been as affordable.  Just a piece of mind to have this part booked.
 

Here's some pictures from La Spezia
 

Day 14 .. last day at La Spezia.  This is the stop where you could go get on a train and head over to see the leaning tower of piza.  But, honestly after we looked at the whole trip we couldn't really find much else to see our do after that.  Thus, we decided on doing something else.   Our diamond lounge host, JJ, had highly recommended taking a ferry over to see the little villages of Chique Terre.  Or something like that.   
The idea was to take the ferry around to see each little village then around the 5th stop hop of and then take the train back.   I was expecting about 100euro for the four of us, but guess prices went up and it was more like 160.  All good though.   I have to say it was hard getting going.   Especially getting the kids up and moving.   There were a few conversations about how nice it would be to end on an at sea, instead of rushing to do an excursion then back to pack. 
The ferry leaves around the 15 minute mark of every hour, we aimed for the 1215.  Yeah it was a little later than planned but I think most of that planning was stuck in my head and didn't make it past that.  Off we went to get a ticket and jump on the ferry.   Plenty of time ... yeah, no.   It's like a 15m walk from where you get the ticket down to the ferry.   After getting the tickets we had like 15m.  When we realized just how far down we had to go, we had to pick up the pace.  Think we made it on board just before the shoved off.  The boat is nothing special but if it's crowded you have to sit inside.   There is a balcony where those in the know sit ... we weren't in that knowing group.   All good though.   
It was challenging for a bit .. I mean trying to motivate a sleepy kid and a hangry kid.  The ferry was slow and enjoyable from a relaxable stand point.  There were some really nice views, pictures to come in a bit.   We made it down to the second stop before opting to jump off and go see the little town.  Mainly, it was decided to hunt food then head back for the sanity of everyone. 
Bring your hiking legs and hill climbing legs.  Yeah, so this stop at least has quite a few stairs and a sorta steep hill in the middle of town.   Fair warning for stop 2.  🙂
The first stop isn't that bad and no clue on the other stops.   The little city was cool and the wife and I talked about staying there but then we started to think after a day or two for us it would get boring.
We found some fried crab and fries and something else but it was just ok ... nothing to make us go wow.  Probably just touristy cooking. Heh.  The girls shopped for a minute as there really wasn't that much that stood out to go look into.   After milling about wasting time till the next ferry, we made our way back to wait for the next one.  It was probably a good thing we took the ferry back towards the ship as there were dark storm clouds over the further stops, so it could have gotten us all wet and made for an even funner trip - lol.  #sarcasm.  Once back at La Spezia, off to get back on the ship we went.  The kids were anxious to go find their new friends to hang out one last time, while the wife and I hunted coffee and snacks.
The packing had started the night before.  I usually like to start packing back up a little before the last day, just makes it a little less stressful on me.  It's not much, just getting the suitcase back out and rolling up the dirty clothes.  Speaking of clothes ... we packed way too much.  I think there were like an extra 4 pairs of pants I packed for some reason that I never wore.  Better to have a little more than not enough.
We thought about hitting up the main dining room to see if the meal would be a good one for our last night, but nothing on the menu stood out to us to make us want to get dressed up to sit through it.  Thus, we opted to find something in the jammer.  I have to say, the food on this cruise didn't wow us.  Our last Anthem cruise, the food was outstanding and even on the Oasis and Allure, the food was fairly rememberable.  This one - I guess I have to say forgettable.  But that's just us  🙂  
The evening brought on our last casino day.  We had made some slot playing friends over the week that we laughed and cheered with.  It's fun to meet other people who enjoy chatting and cheering for a couple dollars on a slot machine.  By the end of the night, we went to talk to the casino host to see if we qualified for a free cruise ... 36 points short.  Yeah, so we stayed a little longer to get those points and get our free cruise.  Now comes figuring out when/where/what ship that'll be on.  Back to room to finished packing and get the kids packed up then off to bed before getting up early.  We had to disembark about 8:30 and just walked off with our luggage.  Each of us had one backpack and one large suitcase, so it was easy.  It was the smoothest disembarking experience we've had thus far.  I'm thinking it was not as crowded as a Caribbean cruise, where everyone has to get off and everyone has to get on.  This one, seemed like about half get off in Rome, since the other half had gotten on midway through the cruise.
We used Rome Cabs and had prebooked a specific time for 9am pickup.  The cabbie showed up and was holding a sign with my name and we were the only ones in the cab.  The hourish drive to the airport was kinda quiet.  We were all exhausted and sad to be leaving.  Funny how you have mixed feelings about leaving and wanting to have just a few more at sea days and at the same time feelings of being ready to get home.
If you haven't traveled internationally yet, you might want to add an extra hour or so to deal with the airport.  Especially ones you don't know how to navigate.  Plus, some of the going through customs can be really slow.  We thought we had like 3 hours to burn at the airport but by the time we got there and thru customs and actually found our gate, we only had like 30 minutes.
I won't go much into the flights, other than to say it was an hour late leaving to head to NY where we had a 2 1/2 hour layover - now 1 1/2 hours or little less.  Long 9ish hour flight was pretty painful.  Sleeping on the flight was difficult.  I let our daughter have the window seat so she could lay her head against the side - my head bobbled to and fro.  Thinking a massage soon will be needed.  
We landed last night in NY.  Uh, so what we didn't factor in was all the security and customs.  In a nutshell, you have to walk all the way back to baggage claim, go thru customs, go wait and get your bags.  Yes, you have to get your checked luggage.  But then you go around the corner and re-check it, so not to big a deal.  Then go back through the line at another customs and then towards another security checkpoint.  I think we had like 4 different checkpoint where we had to show our passports.  Keep those handy and if you can do paper ticket, that's advisable.  Some folks with tickets on their phones were holding up the line.  All this, and then about a 15-20 fast walk all the way to our gate.  Tic tok - the time showed they had started to board and we were still a long ways from the gate, so fast walking kicked in.  Guess what - we got to the gate and the plane was delayed an hour.  At least that gave the girls time to hit the bathroom and grab a coffee and some more snacks.
Finally, we boarded the plane home.  This was the last leg - another delay because they didn't get the freaking drink package correct.  After sitting in the plane for another 30 minutes, finally we taxied and headed home.
To summarize the whole trip.  It was good and I'm glad we did it.  However, next time we'll opt for a longer cruise and shorter days wandering around.  We'll still tack on a couple of days before a cruise, but probably not a full week.  For me, all cruises are great - I love just being on the ship, regardless of what ports we are doing.  It's the atmosphere that I enjoy.  Everyone is over the top friendly, with the exception of some of the other cruisers.  Ya'll know 'those' people.  
Back to work we go.  Now's time to plan for our daughter going to college in a few months.  Our next major cruise is slated for summer 2025 probably going out of Southhampton, England.  The ships/dates aren't out for that just yet, but right now seems it'll be a 12 to 14 night route somewhere.  If we schedule our free cruise, I'll be back to blog that one.  🙂
Thanks for joining us on our international trip and bearing with me through the good times and bad times - lol.  I have to say, blogging like this seems to be therapeutic and also help remember what all we did.  As you can tell from my blog, it turns out to just be a brain dump.  A little coffee in the mornings and a little blogging about the previous day and you'll be good.   I'll toss some additional pictures of places out in a little bit.  If there's any questions or want to see if I grabbed a picture of something, toss a reply.  Otherwise, happy cruising and enjoy!
John and Carrie Hobby
 

Day 13. Marseille France.  I have to admit we were a little excited about taking a tour of the city and wandering around.   That way we could try out some coffee and pastries.   Uh, that didn't happen.   Let me keep yall in suspense ... for a sec anyways. 
About 830 finally forced myself to get up and go get coffee.   It's kind of hard to walk the 15 miles in the morning just for coffee, but it called.  It was a really late night, think about 2am my roommate finally came back.   I let him hang out longer with some of his friends, since he was enjoying it.   After getting some coffee on the promenade, it was of to the diamond lounge for breakfast snacks.   BTW, the expresso machine in here doesn't actually use expresso beans but rather regular coffee.   It's still coffee. 
While hanging out and letting the kids sleep in, we started chatting with some folks about the stop.   So, Marseille is the second largest city after Paris here in France.   Thus, the downtown shopping and fighting traffic started to remind us of the states.  The more we talked the more we talked ourselves out of getting off the ship.  There is a shuttle that would take us into town but it's 20 euros per person.   So, there's about 100 bucks right there just to go for a few hours ... that turned into an expensive French cup of coffee.   (One of the things we wanted to get)
After we finally decided to make it another at sea day, we were off to wake the kids and tell them we were hanging on the ship.   
Today was one of those crew emergency test things where the sound the alarm.   My poor son was half asleep and didn't hear it was a test and only for the crew.  So I got afew text about what he was supposed to do.  He had waken abruptly and was trying to gather his important stuff lol.   It was all good for a short laugh. 
The girls headed to the pool for a few hours of sun with minimal people, while my son and I went to grab some froyo... that's frozen yogurt for yall.  Lol.   We found the ping pong tables empty so we played a few games.   He was then of to find his friends and me off to listen to some music and sit outside.   I can't sit for long, so after a few songs I got up to find the girls. 
I found them soaking up the sun and my wife having some new friends.   We hung out with them for a bit before heading out to clean up for the evening.  Down in the diamond lounge, guess yall know that by now, they have some really good crab cakes and some other pastry thing.  
We have reservations to see the show hairspray tonight, so that'll entertain us for a little bit. 
Tomorrow is la spezia or something like that.   We are actually planning to go do something this time.   There is a boat that'll take us around to see some different color houses and then we can jump on a train to get back to the ship.  More on that adventure tomorrow. 
I'll toss out afew pics from the ship here in Marseille shortly. 

Day 11 .. if I counted right.   The days are starting to blend together and go by faster it seems.   Weird how a long vacation does that.  The last real two week vacation was our honeymoon for two weeks on back to back cruises.  My wife may correct me on that .. 😀
Ok let's see, where did we leave off.?  Yesterday was Barcelona.  There were no excursions for us, just random roaming.  There was no time frame, so we slept in a little.   Our as much as we could.   Oh yeah, guess yall know because I was back down in the diamond lounge writing.  
Our son had played dodge ball the previous night and had soar legs.   He's not much for just walking around looking at stuff, so he opted to stay on board.  Well off the trio of me and the girls went to explore.   There was a bus from the ship to the city, maybe 10 minute drive. It was only 4 euros per person for a round trip ticket.   Make sure to have euro and it's easier if you have exact .. #looksatotherpassengers
What little bit we saw was pretty cool.   Down a little alley we went and started to notice a little more unpleasant smells.  It started to distracted from looking around, although it was just buildings.  We at least wanted to say we ate there, on the hunt we went.   There was a little open square with six or seven restaurants to pick from.   We found one to try out.   The girls had a pasta dish and some rice thing filled with mushrooms.  I think we all grabbed a shovel and started digging out the shrooms, since my wife doesn't like them.   Me?  I was smart and ordered the fish and chips.   The fish was extremely good, we were surprised.   Chips=fries.  Oh yeah, we started with some nachos that were really good.   If I can remember the name I'll drop it out here. 
So, an app, three plates and a bottle of water ended up being about 75 euros.  Little steep for lunch for three, but it was still good.   We also didn't want to go to a place with a low rating.   Funny, after that our daughter seemed to want to head back.   We convinced her to walk down the main drag.   She quickly found some little elephant trinket and I grabbed a stuffed animal key chain for my son.   The girls stopped by a shop for a quick look at clothes.   I met another dude standing outside on the street like me, his girls were inside shopping. 
Oops, sorry for gotta pause and head up to wake the kids and get ready for the beach.   Back later to finish the story.   
We'll be back after these commercials - heh

We got a balcony this round ... one for the girls and one for the boys.   I think ours is cleaner .. heh
If you can upgrade, it's well worth the extra space.  
Honestly it's not bad ... I'm just spoiled

Pompeii. Most of this was covered with over 15 feet of dirt and stuff.
The pic with scaffolding is where they are doing new excavation.

Day 8 .. Naples and Pompeii.   Oh guess we haven't done those just yet. Days are blending together but that's just fine.   
We were all anxious to get on board yesterday so everyone was up early and all happy.   Oh wait, that wasn't the case just yet.   You should know teenagers aren't the best at getting going in the mornings, so we just had to get them motivated.  Our p private rome cab to the port was scheduled for 11 ... so we were all packed and ready to walk out the door at ... wait for it ... 930.  Ha. Yeah so we all packed most everything the night before just to make it easier. 
With a little over an hour to waste, we ventured out to a little street market hunting for a day bag.   Ok, so a good tip is to make sure you always bring a smaller bag than a backpack and a little larger than a purse.   This way you can have something a little easier to carry around.   We found a bag, great now just another hour before our taxi.  Ugh... when you want time to hurry, it doesn't ... but then you can't slow it down when you need.   
Oh well, of to get the kids some donuts and red bulls.  Well maybe not the bulls just yet. After snacking in a little park we ventured back to grab our luggage which thankfully we were able to leave in the apt.  By the time we got our stuff and walked outside our driver showed up.   Of to the port ... an hour drive, maybe little longer since traffic decided to slow us down. 
We got to the port and were dropped off almost in front of the ship.  Uh, where was everyone?  It was almost deserted.   Oh, @Lovetocruise2002 ... we got dropped off right next to another family meeting their geni.... think I felt a tear welling up.  No geni For us this time. 
Sorry, moving on.   We were greeted and dropped off our luggage then made out way up to finish checking in.   Still, hardly anyone around.   Check in was like 5 minutes, then we were told to go get on board.   Wait, what?? This was a first.   To be able to show up at a designated time and just walk right on ... we didn't complain and rushed aboard.   Happy to be there, finally. 
There were cruisers milling about already, so of we went to check out the ship.  It was a lazy day.   Our luggage came to the rooms about an hour or two later, thus the unpacking started. 
It has been a really long time since we did the wind hammer, I mean jammer.  You get spoiled by other places to eat ... like coastal kitchen.   But we don't have access this time around. 
Not much else other than wandering around until we called it quits about midnight since our tour starts early today. 
Back in the morning with Pompeii pictures.  At sea day tomorrow, so we all going to try and sleep in .. me at least till 6. .. sigh. 

Rome pictures 

Day 7. Cruise day
Most of the time keeping track of days is not that hard.   Well, after the first week you start to take extra time to think about what day it is.  This, here we go trying to remember yesterday. 
I think we all slept pretty good, well as good as can be expected.  The wife and I spent a little time trying to get the expresso machine working but to no avail.  They do those types of machines here instead of the big coffee pots.  We get asked multiple times if we really want three shots in our coffee and we just say yup .. hook us up.  We had to go the previous night and get a couple triple shot lattes to put in the fridge for the next morning. 
After getting everyone up and moving the only set time for something was to be at the colosium by 330, we ventured out to start seeing how many steps today would bring.  BTW it was about 26k, so another 10+ miles ... think we are just over 50 miles walking so far over the past few days.
Navigation was really not that bad ... except the iPhone directions took us the wrong way a few times.  Break out the boys Galaxy phone to lead the way.  First up was the pantheon, which really only took us about 15 minutes to get to.   There, just outside we found a pastry shop to grab breakfast and people watch.  Yeah, there were a lot of people.  Like, too many.  The line to go in was extremely long and both kids declined waiting.  So, few outside pictures then it was off towards Trevi fountain then on to the Spanish steps.  
The fountain was covered in people, not literally they can't get in but it was extremely crowded.  The boys found a perch at the top and watched as the girls made their way down to the water edge for some selfies.  After some pictures and elbowing, we regrouped and headed thru the crowd towards to out.
next stop the spanish steps, for some reason we walked a little faster than we thought and the next thing we knew we were there ... along with hundreds of others, or what felt like that many.  Most were at the bottom not wanting to walk up.  The girls opted to stay down while the boys ventured up.  It wasn't to bad.  A few quick pictures then back down.   There we discussed directions to the colosium and hunting lunch.   Oh,  we had 3 hours to kill.  At some point we found a nice little outside lunch spot and had some pizza, salad and muscles ... not all together I mean but separate dishes.   
We parted ways with the boys heading to the Roman forum and the girls shopping.  We were to meet at the colosium for the tour later.  I could have spent half the day walking around the forum and the archeological dig sites cause it was so cool to see.  We found a really large building with some dude on a horse, can't think of the name right now but guess what.... more steps.   With my son bitching at me for dragging him up there we took off on the climb.   A few pictures later and we were sorta at the top.  It cost extra to tour some of the inside so we opted to just walk around.  There was a brief argument to go into one area that looked cool ... there were two sets of armed guards but all you needed was an ID and I had our passports.  But the son won that round cause he wasn't interested in checking it out ... so off to walking around we went.
We made our way to the colosium meeting spot where the girls finally caught up.  Shortly thereafter the tour started.  We did the one that included the gladiators entrance and part of the form.  They have us little boxes to hang around our neck with a wired earpiece to listen to the guide.  She was extremely awesome.  It seems most of the tour guides are also archeologists.  The tour was amazing and well worth it, however is was almost 3 hours.  The wife and I were fine but the kids were about done.  I'll toss out some pics in aa bit but way to much to blog about on a phone.
Once the tour was over, the iPhone started to take us in the wrong direction back to the apt.  Oh, my phoned battery died so had to use my son's... at 25%.  Tip ... might want to bring some type of extra battery.  The right direction found, of we went.  There was a little opening near our apt with lots of restaurants and outdoor seating, so we ate and people watched.  
One last stop for Gelato and back to the apt we went ... to get in line for four showers using one bathroom. 
Finally, tomorrow, or rather today, is cruise day and it hasn't come fast enough.  We have all been taking about it might have been better to do a longer cruise than deal with some of the frustrating things we dealt with so far.   But it has still been a lot of fun. 
Ok gotta get everyone packed and ready for our taxi to the cruise.   Back later with pictures.

Some shots within the Vatican museum.

Here's what our apt looks like

Day 6.  Another 20k in steps and my legs are feeling it.  Gearing up for another long day.  Today is heading to the pantheon, Spanish steps and a tour of the colosium.  Giddy up.
Yesterday was hopefully the last frustrating travel day.   The train ride was fun but we were all so tired most of us kept dozing in and out of naps.  We thought the train was s straight shot to rome but it actually had like 6 stops.  We had pre-purchase our train tickets and had assigned seats, which was good because they would have kicked us out of someone else's seat .. ha.
As we got into the rome terminal, the train was about 30 to 45m late.  Our private cab ride was waiting somewhere for us but we ended up on the other side of the station trying to text with him to find each other.   He was very nice and accommodating, probably deals with that alot.  
Rome is not a place I would ever want to drive ... you think new york is bad, this place is insane.   However it seems to be controlled insanity with the small cars, motor bikes, busses and pedestrians.  You'll get run over if you aren't watching. 
We had tickets to the Vatican city at 330 am found ourselves rushing again to make it.  Dropping our stuff off at the apt, we then commenced the 30m power walk in that direction.  The place was very crowded and we really didn't have s clue where we needed to go.   After finding someone who told us we were in the wrong place and still had a 10m walk to the other freaking side, of we went again.   Excited tired kids in tow .. yeah that was sarcasm. Lol
The entrance closed at 4 and we were able the last ones in.  If we hadn't prepaid almost 150 we were close to just calling it quits.  There were lots of tour groups inside but we were on our own.  The crowds flowed like a small stream looking at the history pieces and artwork... slow and steady moving.   Until we got to some of the doors then it was cramming next to each other to funnel to the next room.  
I feel like we rushed through but after seeing some of the pieces most of or crew was done .. guess I was done also.  I highly recommend doing the museum as soon as they open, just be prepared for tons of people. 
The whole walk through took us a little over an hour.  I think there was s little more to see if we followed the tours but we thought it best to let the kids lead us out.   I say kids, but they are 16 and 18 and if you have or have had these ages, you'll know sometimes it's better to move on.  Heh
We made our way back to the apt since most of our phones were either dead or dying ... weird how fast battery's are draining.   Guess that's because of more usage or location tracking or roaming or who knows.   After getting a quick recharge, off we went again to play frogger in the traffic hunting a place to eat.   
There are tons of places to eat, so we found one that looked kinda cool and ordered a few pizzas.  They were really good, even the kids said so.   We asked the waiter for his recommendation of a good Gelato place and he plugged in the address for us.  The girls went one way and the boys another to meander around and the met at a bridge.   The bridge was the one in the James bond film spectre.. cool for those movie fans. 
By the time we got to the Gelato place we knew it must be good because the line stretched down the street.   Thus, we got in line.  It moved relatively quick.  You really need to know what you want when you get up there .. because the Seinfeld "no soup for you" kept playing in my head.
It was worth the wait ... then again I don't think you would find any bad Gelato around here.  We made our way slowly back to the apt where shortly thereafter we all crashed.
Tomorrow, finally we get on the cruise!  Gotta go rustle up the gang and get our steps going.   Pictures to follow shortly.

Day 5 
On the train bound for Rome...pretty packed at first but then after a few stops it got a little lighter.  Amazing how people get all frantic about where to put their luggage but it all gets worked out 
The kids are paying in and out of sleep.   Wife and I keep laughing at them and talking pictures they'll kill us for later. 
Hope some of the pics turn out decent.  Oh, yeah so the upgrade we paid for wasn't really that much extra room or anything.   You gotta pay the premium to get the nice train.   All in All it's been a lot of fun riding. 
Getting close to end of line.   Today is get checked in then walk to Vatican city for self guided tour.   Here comes another high mile day. 

Let's see if I can get yall some pictures

Day 1:  Travel day. 
I'm sure most of you have your rituals for when you travel, whether it be for a long weekend, work or a vacation.  Me?  Not really.  Oh wait, yeah I do ... it's called quadruple checking everything, and even after all of that there's still that little guy in my head going 'Hey man, you sure you got enough underwear this time?  You wanna fry your phone on their plugs?  Better check those converters.  Where's the money?  Did you get enough?'.  Sigh ... so, I check things again and ask my wife if she checked behind me.  
Flights.  If you haven't flown international yet, let's just say to fly in the baggage compartment is really expensive.  Well, maybe not there, just the next to last row it seems but, you get my point.  You will need to budget somewhere between $1.5k to $2.5k to fly regular.  Oh, that would be per person.  My wife did a boat-load of research, checking and strategizing on getting us the 'best' price.  Still, when you are used to flying for less than $200 one-way (and that's a little high), this flight blew that concept outa the water.  Oh well, we were warned (and now so are ya'll).  I'll get off my soap box now.  
The total flight time for today will be around 13 hours.  About 2 1/2 hours to get to New York where we'll have to wait 45 minutes to get off the plan (cause we in the back) then figure out where our next gate is - oh, all this with an hour layover.  Thus, we'll have a very small window to stretch our legs and grab some better food for the next trip.  Leaving New York, we'll be headed to Brussels, Belgium (no sprouts) with only an hour layover there (hope to wander the airport looking for souvenirs - the first of probably many.  I doubt we'll have time for a Belgium waffle - oh well) and then about 1 1/2 to 2 hour jump down to Venice.  Somewhere along the way, we'll get to fly over a lot of different time zones, putting us somewhere in the future (Venice is 7 hours ahead of Central US time).  Funny to think about - but when we leave NY we'll get to Brussels in about 10 minutes.  If you can't figure that one out 🙂  you need more coffee.
Well, coffee #2 is empty and there's just under 5 hours before heading to the airport.  Time to go check my bags again ... 

You ever wake up and have stuff on your mind you want to get accomplished for the day?  You know, something like deciding whether or not to work on a live vacation blog.  That's been me for a while, trying to make the decision on if I wanted to blog our upcoming trip or not.  It's taken some time convince myself to start writing and I think I'll make the attempt to create some type of blog for our upcoming trip.  Oh, yeah - we leave this Friday.  #Late  I know I'm a little late starting this and probably have a ton of writing that needs to be done, but we'll see if I can't get this thing started.  I'm sure there are some new faces around here and some 'old' faces around here  @CruisingKat(Kathy) @Lovetocruise2002 @WAAAYTOOO
Our last cruise was in 2019 and we had one booked in 2020.  I don't think the year 2020 happened, so we moved our cruise to 2021.  That year didn't happen either, so we just got our cruise money back and waiting for 2022 to show up.  Ya'll know what I'm talking about for 2020/2021 - those years didn't even seem to exists.  Fast forward four years and here we are ... heading to Italy for two weeks.  Oh, I didn't mention that part huh?  Yeah, so we fly out Friday June 2nd heading to Venice, Italy, then to Rome and then the cruise for a week.
Let's see if I can get ya'll caught up to speed.  About five or six years ago (do I have to count 2020/2021?), the kids where in middle school.  They seemed a little jealous of the 'parent' cruising and we felt bad about not taking them, so we took them on two star class (SC) cruises and spoiled them.  Somewhere around here might be my old blogs about those.  Anyway, at that point we started talking about taking them on a cruise for their high school graduation.  Doesn't seem that bad, eh?  Yeah - look where we are now.  Our daughter just graduated from high school  o_0   I blame those 'years-we-don't-talk-about' for time going by so fast.  This trip has been in the planning and talking phases for the past 4-6 years.  Oh, yeah - our son graduates in 2 years - so, we'll be doing this again.  Funny to think that some of ya'll might be in the same boat - kids graduating high school and all.  Ok, we can reminisce about that later - back to this trip.
After some conversations within our little family group (my, wife, daughter, son) it was our daughters turn coming up to pick our what she wanted to do for her big high school graduation trip.  She picked Italy.  We wanted to make sure if we went on this trip, it would be worth it.  Thus, we blocked out a two-week vacation.  Part of that was traveling to different places followed by a week long cruise.  Just to give anyone planning this type of trip - start working on it WAY in advance.  It's a ton of planning and I credit my wife for doing the most of it.  
You'll have to bear with me as I try to get everyone up to speed on what it takes to plan a trip like this, so be prepared for multiple posts ... Yeah, I'm a little older now and a little slower - lol   I crossed the 'big' hill a couple years ago during the 'years-we-don't-talk-about'.  btw - let me just vent on that #GetOnSoapBox... that was going to the the kids 3rd SC cruise, my 50th and 10yr anniversary all on one cruise.  That didn't happen.  #GetOffSoapBox
So the summary goes something like this:  Fly to Venice (13hrs), take the train to Rome (4hrs) and then cruise the western Mediterranean (Rome, Naples, Barcelona, Palma, Marseille, La Spezia).
A couple of quick notes while I'm thinking about it.  If anyone has questions about some of these quick notes, I'll try to respond during this thread to give more information.
1) flights are stoopid expensive to get over there  (about $8k for the 4 of us)
2) you have to take EUROs with you (figure about 15% to get this converted from your bank due to fees/exchange rate)  It's better to pay in EUROs for things, rather than a credit card.  It's a different way of thinking compared to how we do it here in the US.  
3) prepay for whatever you can on your credit card (check with your card about foreign transaction fees - if you going over there, you'll have to grin-and-bear-it, unless your card doesn't charge for those)
4) find a good travel planning app  (I don't want to push any specific one, but we found one we like that we are using - if you want to know, DM me)
5) be prepared to add the international plan to your phone  (this was a little more unexpected - I figured $100 based on initial reading of our wireless carrier to have international during our trip.  Yeah, that turned out to be $100 PER LINE ... it took me a bit to 'really' understand how they have it instead of just reading it at first.  Oh well ... cheaper than just letting the kids run wild across the social platforms while in another country, eh?)
6) for those of you with those fruity phones, invest in the air tags  (funny, in our house the girls have the iphones and the boys have the galaxys.  The air tags will help you sorta keep track of your bags.  Just 'hid' it somewhere in your luggage.  No, don't mix it with your clothes but put it somewhere else.  Maybe even tape it to the inside.  Either way - worth the piece of mind)
I think one of the most important things for a trip like this is the budget - at least for me.  But, if you plan far enough in advance then things should be ok.  Oh, make sure to budget casino money in there ... #Disclaimer:  Only budget casino money on what you can afford to lose.  Have to put that in here  🙂  cause we all know how they work.
Um, let's see - since it's been some time since I blogged, trying to remember how to do this - right now just seems like a brain dump as I think of stuff.
The Cruise:  No SC for us this round - blame the flight costs, so we have two large balconies.  The girls and the boys.  It's sobering to not have SC and realize all the 'extras' you have to remember to book/pay for, right @Lovetocruise2002?  lol   Everything from drink packages, to the internet, to restaurant reservation and show reservations ... Yeah, I'm spoiled with the SC.  If you have never cruise using the SC (star class), you really need to try it once.  Check out my SC Anthem 2019:  
 
Packing started a month or so ago.  Well, not the 'actual' packing but getting the suitcases down and all the shopping for Italy clothes.  Oh wait - that started after the first of the year.  Once the 'reality' of the trip started to hit, the shopping started.  Even us boys didn't realize we didn't have enough of the right kind of clothes to take on the trip.  Yeah, so shorts, pants, nicer shirts (not t-shirts with a Venom logo), shoes without holes ... yeah and the counting if we had enough socks and underwear, which we didn't - so off to the store we went.  The past couple of months seem to be a blur with a lot going on, primarily all the planning around the actual graduation for our daughter.  Part of all this also included the whole - she's going to college in New York.  That's a whole 'nuther 'trip' planning in itself that we have been juggling with this one.
Sorry, back to this trip.  Let's see.  Overview, check.  Itinerary, check.  Rambling, check.  Budget, yall-send-me-a-check (ha).  Cruise, check.  For those that were familiar with the Periscope app, sorry to have seen that close down back in 2021.  I don't know if there will be anything posted here from a live streaming process, but will toss some pictures out here and try to stay on top of the daily blogging.  Bear with me as I try to get back to remembering how to blog.  🙂
 
 

btw - if anyone is interested and traveling into Rome ...  I would highly recommend using Rome Cabs.  My dad recommended using them from their trip a few years back.  It was only $175 euro's to get from Rome to the cruise port and the same to get back to the Leonardo Div. airport.  
We booked reservations about a month before the cruise.  There was no payment due and we just paid the driver once they showed up, we did tip both drivers but it is not required.  Both drivers were on time, courteous and got all our bags and us loaded and to our destination.   
Stefano’s RomeCabs | Website: www.RomeCabs.com
Normally, I wouldn't post stuff like this - but have to say, it was very nice to have our own dedicated cab/driver and not have to wait in line or flag down someone who may not have been as affordable.  Just a piece of mind to have this part booked.
 

btw - if anyone is interested and traveling into Rome ...  I would highly recommend using Rome Cabs.  My dad recommended using them from their trip a few years back.  It was only $175 euro's to get from Rome to the cruise port and the same to get back to the Leonardo Div. airport.  
We booked reservations about a month before the cruise.  There was no payment due and we just paid the driver once they showed up, we did tip both drivers but it is not required.  Both drivers were on time, courteous and got all our bags and us loaded and to our destination.   
Stefano’s RomeCabs | Website: www.RomeCabs.com
Normally, I wouldn't post stuff like this - but have to say, it was very nice to have our own dedicated cab/driver and not have to wait in line or flag down someone who may not have been as affordable.  Just a piece of mind to have this part booked.
 

Day 14 .. last day at La Spezia.  This is the stop where you could go get on a train and head over to see the leaning tower of piza.  But, honestly after we looked at the whole trip we couldn't really find much else to see our do after that.  Thus, we decided on doing something else.   Our diamond lounge host, JJ, had highly recommended taking a ferry over to see the little villages of Chique Terre.  Or something like that.   
The idea was to take the ferry around to see each little village then around the 5th stop hop of and then take the train back.   I was expecting about 100euro for the four of us, but guess prices went up and it was more like 160.  All good though.   I have to say it was hard getting going.   Especially getting the kids up and moving.   There were a few conversations about how nice it would be to end on an at sea, instead of rushing to do an excursion then back to pack. 
The ferry leaves around the 15 minute mark of every hour, we aimed for the 1215.  Yeah it was a little later than planned but I think most of that planning was stuck in my head and didn't make it past that.  Off we went to get a ticket and jump on the ferry.   Plenty of time ... yeah, no.   It's like a 15m walk from where you get the ticket down to the ferry.   After getting the tickets we had like 15m.  When we realized just how far down we had to go, we had to pick up the pace.  Think we made it on board just before the shoved off.  The boat is nothing special but if it's crowded you have to sit inside.   There is a balcony where those in the know sit ... we weren't in that knowing group.   All good though.   
It was challenging for a bit .. I mean trying to motivate a sleepy kid and a hangry kid.  The ferry was slow and enjoyable from a relaxable stand point.  There were some really nice views, pictures to come in a bit.   We made it down to the second stop before opting to jump off and go see the little town.  Mainly, it was decided to hunt food then head back for the sanity of everyone. 
Bring your hiking legs and hill climbing legs.  Yeah, so this stop at least has quite a few stairs and a sorta steep hill in the middle of town.   Fair warning for stop 2.  🙂
The first stop isn't that bad and no clue on the other stops.   The little city was cool and the wife and I talked about staying there but then we started to think after a day or two for us it would get boring.
We found some fried crab and fries and something else but it was just ok ... nothing to make us go wow.  Probably just touristy cooking. Heh.  The girls shopped for a minute as there really wasn't that much that stood out to go look into.   After milling about wasting time till the next ferry, we made our way back to wait for the next one.  It was probably a good thing we took the ferry back towards the ship as there were dark storm clouds over the further stops, so it could have gotten us all wet and made for an even funner trip - lol.  #sarcasm.  Once back at La Spezia, off to get back on the ship we went.  The kids were anxious to go find their new friends to hang out one last time, while the wife and I hunted coffee and snacks.
The packing had started the night before.  I usually like to start packing back up a little before the last day, just makes it a little less stressful on me.  It's not much, just getting the suitcase back out and rolling up the dirty clothes.  Speaking of clothes ... we packed way too much.  I think there were like an extra 4 pairs of pants I packed for some reason that I never wore.  Better to have a little more than not enough.
We thought about hitting up the main dining room to see if the meal would be a good one for our last night, but nothing on the menu stood out to us to make us want to get dressed up to sit through it.  Thus, we opted to find something in the jammer.  I have to say, the food on this cruise didn't wow us.  Our last Anthem cruise, the food was outstanding and even on the Oasis and Allure, the food was fairly rememberable.  This one - I guess I have to say forgettable.  But that's just us  🙂  
The evening brought on our last casino day.  We had made some slot playing friends over the week that we laughed and cheered with.  It's fun to meet other people who enjoy chatting and cheering for a couple dollars on a slot machine.  By the end of the night, we went to talk to the casino host to see if we qualified for a free cruise ... 36 points short.  Yeah, so we stayed a little longer to get those points and get our free cruise.  Now comes figuring out when/where/what ship that'll be on.  Back to room to finished packing and get the kids packed up then off to bed before getting up early.  We had to disembark about 8:30 and just walked off with our luggage.  Each of us had one backpack and one large suitcase, so it was easy.  It was the smoothest disembarking experience we've had thus far.  I'm thinking it was not as crowded as a Caribbean cruise, where everyone has to get off and everyone has to get on.  This one, seemed like about half get off in Rome, since the other half had gotten on midway through the cruise.
We used Rome Cabs and had prebooked a specific time for 9am pickup.  The cabbie showed up and was holding a sign with my name and we were the only ones in the cab.  The hourish drive to the airport was kinda quiet.  We were all exhausted and sad to be leaving.  Funny how you have mixed feelings about leaving and wanting to have just a few more at sea days and at the same time feelings of being ready to get home.
If you haven't traveled internationally yet, you might want to add an extra hour or so to deal with the airport.  Especially ones you don't know how to navigate.  Plus, some of the going through customs can be really slow.  We thought we had like 3 hours to burn at the airport but by the time we got there and thru customs and actually found our gate, we only had like 30 minutes.
I won't go much into the flights, other than to say it was an hour late leaving to head to NY where we had a 2 1/2 hour layover - now 1 1/2 hours or little less.  Long 9ish hour flight was pretty painful.  Sleeping on the flight was difficult.  I let our daughter have the window seat so she could lay her head against the side - my head bobbled to and fro.  Thinking a massage soon will be needed.  
We landed last night in NY.  Uh, so what we didn't factor in was all the security and customs.  In a nutshell, you have to walk all the way back to baggage claim, go thru customs, go wait and get your bags.  Yes, you have to get your checked luggage.  But then you go around the corner and re-check it, so not to big a deal.  Then go back through the line at another customs and then towards another security checkpoint.  I think we had like 4 different checkpoint where we had to show our passports.  Keep those handy and if you can do paper ticket, that's advisable.  Some folks with tickets on their phones were holding up the line.  All this, and then about a 15-20 fast walk all the way to our gate.  Tic tok - the time showed they had started to board and we were still a long ways from the gate, so fast walking kicked in.  Guess what - we got to the gate and the plane was delayed an hour.  At least that gave the girls time to hit the bathroom and grab a coffee and some more snacks.
Finally, we boarded the plane home.  This was the last leg - another delay because they didn't get the freaking drink package correct.  After sitting in the plane for another 30 minutes, finally we taxied and headed home.
To summarize the whole trip.  It was good and I'm glad we did it.  However, next time we'll opt for a longer cruise and shorter days wandering around.  We'll still tack on a couple of days before a cruise, but probably not a full week.  For me, all cruises are great - I love just being on the ship, regardless of what ports we are doing.  It's the atmosphere that I enjoy.  Everyone is over the top friendly, with the exception of some of the other cruisers.  Ya'll know 'those' people.  
Back to work we go.  Now's time to plan for our daughter going to college in a few months.  Our next major cruise is slated for summer 2025 probably going out of Southhampton, England.  The ships/dates aren't out for that just yet, but right now seems it'll be a 12 to 14 night route somewhere.  If we schedule our free cruise, I'll be back to blog that one.  🙂
Thanks for joining us on our international trip and bearing with me through the good times and bad times - lol.  I have to say, blogging like this seems to be therapeutic and also help remember what all we did.  As you can tell from my blog, it turns out to just be a brain dump.  A little coffee in the mornings and a little blogging about the previous day and you'll be good.   I'll toss some additional pictures of places out in a little bit.  If there's any questions or want to see if I grabbed a picture of something, toss a reply.  Otherwise, happy cruising and enjoy!
John and Carrie Hobby
 

Glad you enjoyed the blog.
The app actually worked pretty good.  We did have to set our phones to roaming and in airplane mode while on the ship.  We were able to turn notifications on for the app in order for us to text each other.  The calendar was for the most part up to date.  There were a few cases where we had JJ in the DL make a reservation for us that didn't show, but we knew what time we had for dinner in the Solarium.  
The weeks leading up to the cruise, some of our bookings / shows / dinner would be in there but it seemed to only be one whoever reserved it.  So, there was a few where my wife booked stuff that I couldn't see on my linked calendar - but it seemed to work better than our last cruise in 2019.
The other thing to watch for ... since we had two balconies, we had to make Giovanni's reservation for both rooms at the same time.  However, because it was two rooms - they thought it would be two separate tables with two people each ... not a reservation for four.  Make sure to swing by the restaurant, if that's your case, and have them combine the reservations into a single with everyone at the same table.  It worked out for us, since we ate at like 5:30 before the big crowd of reservations kicked in.

I've been on the fence as to whether or not I wanted to try to live blog my first cruise, but I figured I'd give it a shot. 
We booked this cruise through a TA we've worked with on land-based vacations over the past few years. We basically had no idea what to look for (cruise line or ship) other than the fact that we wanted to see Alaska. Thanks to the whole Royal Caribbean Blog community for helping me get at least a little bit knowledgeable on what to expect. I've devoured live blogs, forum questions, and blog posts to try to learn more, and I really appreciate everyone who shares their experiences!
There will be 5 of us on the trip - my wife and our 3 kids (16, 13, 12) in connecting balcony cabins. I didn't try for RU, because we wanted to keep the cabins together. Hopefully the kids don't kill each other sharing a room. 
We fly out of Philadelphia at 9:30 tomorrow morning, which is going to require a 5:30am departure from home. That's actually better than it was when we booked the flights - originally it left at 6:30am! 
We have a night in Vancouver before the cruise, and then two nights after we debark. Hoping to get a chance to see some of the city! 
I didn't end up booking any excursions in the three port stops (Sitka, Juneau, and Ketchikan) - the ones we were interested in were crazy expensive for all 5 of us. We're planning to walk around the towns and maybe do some hiking. 
We have the 3-night specialty dining package, so we're looking forward to trying out Chops, Giovanni's table,and Izumi. We also booked the sushi-making class for the 16yo, my wife, and I (the other two don't eat sushi). 
I'll try to update this regularly during the cruise, but no promises!

That's of my reasons for blogging too, it's great for reliving the memories! Thanks for blogging!